Using Second Life URLs (SLurls)
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A SLURL (Second Life URL URL) is a teleport link to a location in Second Life. If you have Second Life installed, using a SLURL will automatically transport you to that location inworld. If you don't yet have Second Life, you can join us for free!
Making beautiful SLURLs
The first step to making beautiful SLURLs is adding explanatory text and a picture (or even an IFrame) to give it more context and flavor. For example, say you've got an island in Second Life you want to invite people to. This base URL works:
works, but tells you nothing about what you're getting into. Compared to this (click on it!):
which is a little more descriptive.
You can easily make beautiful SLURLs with the SLURLBuilder.
If you're technically-minded...
Query strings
- Example - "?title=YOUR%20TITLE%20HERE!" changes the title.
- Example - "?img=http://slurl.com/yourimage.gif" changes the image. Must be a full URL, and preferably a smaller image like 256x256 pixels or less.
- Example - "?msg=Your%20text%20here." changes the description
- Example - You can also combine elements. The first element in the URL should be preceded with "?", and later elements preceded by "&".
- Example - You can also display your own web content by inserting an IFrame. This can't be used at the same time as an image, and will take precedence over an image if you try to use both.
Shortening SLURLs
SLURLs, especially if they have text and a picture included (see example), can get quite lengthy. This makes them difficult to paste into places like emails, which may have line breaks that mangle the SLURL. Plus, they look unsightly!
You can use a 3rd-party URL-shortening service to condense a SLURL and make it easier to share. There are dozens of these out there, including:
- Snurl - No connection to SLURL, but the similar URL and basic stats tracking makes it an easy choice.
- TinyURL - One of the first and most popular.
If you have a webserver with customizable redirect, you can do something similar. For example, try: http://torley.com/here and watch how the SLURL expands to its full length in your web browser's address bar.
How it works
- You make a SLURL.
- You share the SLURL with a friend.
- They click the SLURL — it's a web link like any other.
- They'll see a http://slurl.com page and more info, if you provided it.
If they don't have Second Life
- Your friend can join us in minutes.
- When your friend logs in for the first time, they'll end up at the SLURL place you gave. This is great for inviting someone to your home or business for the first time inworld — they'll be at a familiar place and you can greet them. Learn more about Direct SLURL.
If they have Second Life
- If Second Life's not open yet, it'll start.
- When they login,they'll see a Place Information window — in the same style as when you right-click > About Landmark on a landmark in your inventory.
- Click Teleport button to go there.
Misc. tips 'n' tricks
- On Windows, a SLURL opens the newest-installed viewer. There isn't an easy way to change which viewer launches SLURLs, so if you're have the main viewer and a Release Candidate, it'll start whichever was installed most recently. Altho inconvenient, you can change this by reinstalling a viewer.
More details
Every SLURL page's SLURL title and Teleport Now button link to a "secondlife://" address, which is an URI scheme which opens Second Life. This is different from the familiar "http://" used for webpages.
The reason why it's advantageous to post "http://" SLURLs instead of direct "secondlife://" addresses in webpages and such is for the benefit of people who don't have Second Life yet. Giving them a "secondlife://" URL doesn't work, since it depends on SL's presence. A SLURL serves as a friendly intro to tell them about Second Life as-needed and where they'll be going, instead of leading them blindly.