New Login Screen Arrives

Opensource Obscure has been warning us a new login screen was coming. It seems to be here. It came up in my SLViewer (2.8.3) this morning.

You can see what appears on the new screen here: http://viewer-login.agni.lindenlab.com/

The old screen can be seen here: http://secondlife.com/app/login – that may soon redirect to the new screen.

The New Splash Screen

Older viewers may still use the old splash screen and some Third Party Viewers (TPV) will too. The rumor is the URL redirection will at some point be set to allow the new splash screen on older viewers.

Some TPV’s will switch over from their own screen. Some will likely create custom splash screens.

The big change is orientation that this new screen provides is an easy way to find out where people are. It is too small in the image but each of the thumbnails in the bottom rows have a region count telling how many people are in the region. Tempura Island is always jammed to near capacity. When I captured the screen there were 37 people in the region. The main feature is a black-tie formal ballroom. It is a Moderate region but there are sex beds in some hidden locations. So… ladies watch out for those subtle seducers that take you to Tempura. It is a very romantic place and rooms off the ballroom area designed for romance and seduction.

Tempura Formal Ballroom

If you visit Tempura, remember changing your active group can speed up avatar render.

Clicking one of the suggested locations brings up more info on the destination and inserts the correct location into the login field. There is some painless education for those bright enough to pick up on what they are seeing.

New Login Destination Selection Process - Click Enlarge

I think this could give a big boost to user retention. This step is pre-SL Community Convention (SLCC). I am starting to wonder if there will be any surprises revealed at SLCC.

While the process is neat, I do have to consider what I was last wearing…

When it comes to user retention there is a problem with these ideas. new users will not realize a region with 37 people in it will be laggy. Dropping new users in a highly lagged areas is probably counter productive. It might be better to show the first 3 of the 4 regions as places with 10 people and may be the last one as a jammed area.

All of those shown have over 30 people. You know all those regions will be lagging. New people with 500 scripts are not helping lag, so it can get pretty bad. This looks like a good idea poorly implemented.

4 thoughts on “New Login Screen Arrives

  1. Holy crap. My CPU usage shot up to 100% for a few seconds after loading that page, and remained at around 50% usage while the page was open. Even when I closed it, the lag remained for about ten seconds.

    My system has a fairly good CPU on it, a 2.6ghz Athlon dual-core. If it lags on a CPU such as that, how much worse is it going to be one a weaker CPU?

    • The page has changed since this morning. The ‘What’s Hot Now’ section is blank. The page drives my CPU up to 90+/-% for a second. Then it drops back to normal.

      Checking back a few minutes later the page is complete again. I do get an 80-90% spike then CPU usage drops to normal.

  2. AFAIK, it’s good that CPUs work at their maximum potential.

    It’s no good if you get lag, but CPU working at 90% – 100% doesn’t necessarily mean there’s something wrong.

  3. Pingback: Second Life’s August Update

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