Third-party Viewer developed for optimized user experience
There’s something to be said about making our Second Life experience better. Over the course of the last year, we’ve seen the rise and fall of some great viewers. Many seasoned residents, completely up-in-arms about the new Linden Lab Viewer 2.X, have continued to use the third-party viewers (TPV). More directly, the Phoenix Viewer (http://www.phoenixviewer.com/downloads.php) has proven to deliver one of the best user experiences and is based completely on the original SL viewer and LL’s Snowglobe open-source viewer code.
While the Phoenix Viewer is the best thing since instant grits, the code just isn’t able to keep up with all the newest advancements in technology that have been rolling out in the 2.X series released by LL on Residents. In an effort to keep the simplistic user-interface (UI) of the original Phoenix Viewer but incorporate all these new advancements, the Phoenix Development Team, on January 26th 2011, released for public testing the pre-alpha version of Phoenix Firestorm.
This updated version is a work in progress and still has some bugs BUT imagine being able to have the best of both worlds, original-styled viewer with reduced resource hogging coupled with the newest advancements in technology from the version 2.X series of open-source viewer code. The biggest focus of this new Phoenix development is aimed at the UI. For those interested in trying taking this viewer for a test run, you’ll need to join the in-world group (secondlife:///app/group/7ba4569c-9dd9-fed2-aaa7-36065d18a13c/about) for the link to the download. Also, see a working list of the release notes or the Firestorm YouTube Tutorial for a quick introduction of features.
Being a member of the in-world group for this development has brought a real sense of ownership to the Phoenix Development team. What is essentially being created from the ground up is a viewer that addresses user satisfaction, user intuitiveness & full compatibility with current technology throughout SL.
Regardless of which viewer is currently used, a test run will show rather quickly why Phoenix Viewer (Snowglobe V 1.5) & Phoenix Firestorm Viewer (Snowstorm V 2.X) are perhaps one of the largest recommended TPVs. As best said directly on the Phoenix Viewer website, “Do understand! The Firestorm Preview build should be considered Pre Alpha! Not beta,, not Release Candidate.. it is pre alpha and as such it has a lot of bugs that still need to be worked out.“
For those ready to discover a new experience, other TPVs are also available from the Third Party Viewer Directoy presented by Linden Labs.
Whether using the Phoenix Viewer or the Firestorm Viewer, a new chapter is being written that will surely produce favorable results. Massive props go out to the entire Phoenix Development team. It’s through dedication of individuals like these that continue to make everyones experience in SL that much better.
