IMVU Version 2.0

If you are a VIP member, you got to sneak peek at IMVU's client version 2.0 yesterday. The rest of the community gets to try it out today. (Get in on the discussion here!)

So far, this new client version has been welcomed with slightly open arms by the community, although there are few who detest it with a passion. It seems to have both it's great, bad and horrible points. Being a VIP member, I got to play with it yesterday. So far, save a few details... I have to say that I'm pleased with the changes.

So what's different? A LOT! This freshly designed, full-window client has a modern edge. You can do just about everything from within the client - including reading your home page messages, shopping and purchasing over priced credits from IMVU. Special features include tabbed chats, in client message box, new room search filters and other little goodies (it's up to you to decide if the others are features or duds).

Take a look at the new IMVU 2.0 (Click image to view larger).


Below are my opinions of the pros and cons of this new version. Some opinions from the community that I agreed with are mixed in.

Pros:
*Client loads a lot faster. No more standing around looking smudgy and half naked while you wait for everything to load.
*Ability to smoothly run several chats (I don't know about y'all, but I hadn't been able to do that in a year).
*LOVE the new listing for public rooms. I love that we can now search for empty rooms, rooms with 1-3 people, 4-6, etc. Great idea. I love how easy it is to simply sort out the AP or the GA rooms. I love that we can use the filters in multiple ways - choosing different levels of occupancy, room rating, etc all at once.
*LOVE LOVE LOVE the messages center. It's a little cluttered, but it gets the job done (I imagine it would look less cluttered if I didn't have so many dang home page messages lol). I love that unlike the "new" message viewer on the regular http://www.imvu.com/catalog/web_index.php/inbox page, I can actually read my messages in their entirety without having to go to my home page (funny how we were given over 1,000 characters yet you have to go to your HP to read them all lol). So this is great! BEST Part? I can select a TON of messages at once and hit DELETE!
*Absolute best part about the entire experience thus far? Tabs. I am a sucker for tabs and being able to tab IMVU instead of having 101 tabs in my browser makes for less going on on my dektop. Kudos.

Cons:
* You can't access your inventory while shopping
* You can't type any trigger commands
* You can't even type "save outfit" while in the dressing room
* That shadowy dressing room is pretty lousy and makes all products look low quality
* Developers now have to make sure to create a really kick-butt icon, and rely only on that icon
* There is no way to access the product pages
* I also don't like that we can't fully close the "friends" window, only minimize it to our taskbar
* The categories have been much too simplified (for instance TOPS is lumped into that one category - just TOPS; I really prefer the convenience of "tops-angel tops-baby tees-crop tops-etc.," which really allows a shopper to narrow down exactly what they're looking for instead of going on a wild goose chase
* Yes, the screen is wider but it's also shorter. That header takes up too much space
* Because of the screen resolution, it is now impossible to take nice screen shots for products and avatar pictures. I had to switch back to the older client in order to do it.
* No shout outs are displayed in the new client and with IMVU clearly trying to move the community away from the website, what will this mean for shout out dependant developers and credits resellers? Are they simply out of luck on that one?

A lot of the issues, I am hoping will be resolved. After all, this is just day one and it will take some time before everyone is adjusted and things start coming together. When I got the sneak peek at 2.0 many months ago, a few of the issues above were not issues at all. So I can only assume that those things will be soon introduced to us.

This new version seems much more geared towards the new IMVU user - and well, that is pretty much why it was made in the first place. Studies show that new users quickly lose interest in the site because they don't understand how to do things. Having to go back and forth between the client and the website in order to shop was a bit of a hassle. It put off a lot of new users when they didn't understand the simple concept of being able to buy new clothes for their avatars.

Time will tell with this one. Like I said - I'm enjoying the change thus far and have high hopes for this project.