Second Life – What… SLURL vs URL

Updated: 2019-06-28. Fixed link rot.

A bunch of bloggers don’t know the difference between a URL and a SLURL. The simple explanation, if a web page link opens a web page, image, video, whatever in a web browser it is a URL.

If it opens a viewer, then it is SLURL.

A URL: https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Echo%20Cove/197/193/25

A SLURL: secondlife://ECHO%20COVE/197/193/25

Click each of the above to see the difference in behavior.

I'll send flowers into the sky to find you

I’ll send flowers into the sky to find you

On the second one, Windows or your anti-virus may complain saying clicking this link may be a security risk. This is both of those saying ‘I don’t know what this is, so I’ll tell you it may be dangerous, just in case.’ But, if you go to the SL Maps page, the first URL, and look at the SLURL shown when you hover over “Visit this Location” link, you’ll see they are the same.

You can decide for yourself by going to the SL Maps page, the first URL, and looking at the SLURL shown when you hover over “Visit this Location” link, you’ll see it shows the same link address I show here.

Control

The behavior when clicking a SLURL is controlled by you. Settings in Windows and/or your web browser control what happens when you click.

The Firestorm team has made an elegant fix. See: Second Life: How to FIX SLURL’s (2016). Fortunately, it works for all viewers Linden and third-party. Unfortunately, it is a Windows-only solution. To get the proxy for SLURL control see: SLURL Proxy.

If you want a more technical explanation, see: Emerald Viewer vs SLURL (2010). While that is a 2010 solution that uses the old banished Emerald Viewer as an example, it still works. Just change the names to avoid the guilty.

2 thoughts on “Second Life – What… SLURL vs URL

  1. my laptop will not follow an url or slurl on firestorm..it asks if I want to find an app for that..I know there is a way to have it accept that ..but idk where the download for that program is

    • The article’s links were rotting away… sorry.

      I fixed the links. The Link to the SLURL Proxy works now. The Proxy is likely the fix to your problem.

      I suggest you set your viewer to use the external web browser. Some viewers handle URL/SLURL differently. But, with the proxy, your web browser will give you uniform handling across all viewers.

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