Pulling website content into Second Life is one of the key features required for enterprise use, so Daden's launch of its Daden Navigator web browser is sure to make a splash. They're billing it as the first "publicly available web browser" for the virtual world, in contrast to the browser launched by Linden Lab earlier this year, which Daden says didn't allow users to click on links to surf between different sites.
The idea: collaborative browsing, with several Second Lifers able to gather round a single ‘screen’ to access websites. That’s not to say there aren’t restrictions though: users can’t scroll through long pages, fill out forms or see pages using active Javascript or Flash content, which Daden says is down to Linden’s technology. However, a popout command redirects content to users’ own web browsers in these cases.
Interestingly, Daden boss David Burden highlights the fact that the browser needs websites that have been designed accessibly:
“What we find interesting is that because Daden Navigator is based on technology that we originally developed for visually impaired users it suddenly makes Second Life residents acutely aware of web accessibility issues – if a web site is accessible it will work well with Daden Navigator, if it isn’t then SL users, just like visually impaired users, will struggle.”
The Daden Navigator comes in two versions. The standard edition costs 2,400 Linden Dollars (about £4), but it’ll soon be followed by a Pro edition letting users store bookmarks in notecards and tweak the configuration. No price has been announced for this yet. Meanwhile, Daden is also planning to launch an Enterprise version to work with corporate intranets.
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