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So, for those who are trying to figure out "How do I . . . "
. . . walk around?
You'd think this one would be a no-brainer, but judging by the number of day-old avatars who have trampled me trying to figure it out, maybe not.
Movement is directed by the arrow keys on your keyboard. Up moves you forward, down moves you back, and the left and right keys turn your avatar accordingly. Releasing the keys will bring your avatar to a stop (unless you're on enough of a slope that the physics engine kicks in and causes your avatar to stumble forward until it hits level ground.)
Your movement can be blocked by solid prims and other avatars. This can sometimes be confusing when you've just arrived somewhere and the place isn't completely finished rendering, since a wall that hasn't yet appeared on your screen can be seen through, but not walked through. (Some prims are set as "phantom" so they can be moved through, and they're usually set as translucent as a hint.)
By the way, if you do bump into people, a simple "excuse me" can go a long way. Just sayin'.
. . . fly?
The simple way is to press the "Fly" button at the top of your screen. It will change to a "Stop Flying" button and if you press it, you will do so. There are slightly more graceful ways to do it, though.
On most keyboards, the "Page Up" and "Page Down" keys have the same effect, with a little more control. Pressing "Page Up" again will lift you a little bit higher and the "Page Down" key will cause you to descend. If, like, me, you're on a laptop and said keys are also the arrow keys, you'll need to hold down whatever key is needed to cause it to perform that function (the "fn" key on mine, it may vary by laptop.) Otherwise, the arrow keys will cause you to move forward, backward and turn as they would if you were on the ground.
"Free Flight", for lack of a better term, is slightly limited in how high and how fast you can go. Also, certain parcels of land will have properties set to disallow flight--you can fly over them if you're passing through, but if you land, you're stuck. (Land with that property set will indicate such with a symbol at the top of the screen of a red circle with an arrow pointing down.) You can fly a bit higher and faster if you have a scripted object active on your person--whether it's a flying vehicle, rocket boots or a "flight feather" which you can wear.
. . . teleport somewhere?
Teleportation is the number one means of travel in Second Life. As such, there are lots of different ways to do it.
Landmarks are the main way. They're sort of the Second Life equivalent of webpage bookmarks. You can set one up almost anywhere by selecting "Create Landmark Here" from the "World" menu in a spot you'd like to revisit. More often, you'll pick them up from people, places and things that give them to you. It will show in in your inventory as a push-pin with the name of the place next to it. Double click and and you'll be asked if you really want to Teleport there. If you do, click "Teleport."
If you look at the map (click the "Map" button at the bottom of the screen), you can also select Landmarks from a menu, but they have a bad habit of accumulating and getting hard to follow, for some reason. You can also teleport from the map by double-clicking on the map on the place you'd like to be. If you're allowed, you'll teleport there.
You can also get a teleport from someone else . . . or give one. To teleport someone to where you are, pull up their Profile (see below) and click "Offer Teleport". (If the button is grayed out, they're probably not around to offer a Teleport to.)
If they're a Friend of yours, you can also offer a teleport from your Contacts list. Just click "Communicate" and click the "Contacts" tab. Set the vertical tab for "Friends" (as opposed to "Groups"), select the name in the list of friends (online friends will be on the top of the list in bold, offline friends will be in alphabetical order beneath them) and click the "Teleport" button. If they're offline, the "Teleport" button will be greyed out.
A message will pop up, which usually defaults to "Join me in [wherever you are]. This is what they'll see when they get the notice that you're offering a teleport. You can rewrite it, if you like, but most people just leave it as is.
And, of course, if somebody teleports you, you'll get a message asking to accept or decline. Hit "Teleport" and you'll be teleported to where that person is.
. . . talk to people?
If you want to talk to the whole room, just hit Enter to bring up the chat input (if it's not already there), type what you want to say, and hit Enter. While you're typing, your avatar will usually do a little hands-in-midair thing (as if typing on an invisible keyboard) and clickety-tappity sounds will be heard. If you hear the clickety-tappity sounds and you're not typing anything, it means that somebody else in earshot is typing. What you say (and what other people say) will appear on the lower left of your screen and gradually fade out depending on how you set your preferences.
If you miss something, click either the "History" button or the "Communicate" button to bring up the chat log. What's the difference, you may ask? Both buttons actually bring up the same screen, but the "History" button will always go to the "Near Me" tab, while the "Communicate" button will bring up whatever tab you last left it on. More on those tabs later.
If you want to talk to an individual and not the whole room, you can send that person an Instant Message (IM). Which, of course, brings you to the question "how do I . . ."
. . . send an IM to someone?
If the person is in the room, you can right-click on either the avatar or the name that's floating above their head and select "IM" from the menu that pops up. (You can use Command-click if you're a single button Macintoshy person like me, and just assume the same when I say "right-click" from this point forward.) The Communicate screen will pop up, this time with a tab for the person you're IMing. Type what you want to say in the chat line just above the tab and hit Enter. What you said will show up in the window above. If the person responds, you'll see a line that says "[avatar name] is typing..." (sort of the IM equivalent of the clickety-tappity) and then when they hit Enter, what they wrote will appear in the window. If your preferences are set accordingly, you can also see what they wrote in the "Near Me" chat log, with "IM" just before the avatar name.
If the person is not in the room, you can still IM them. Heck, they don't even have to be inworld at the time! Neat, huh? If you have established the person as a Friend, you can do it from your Contacts list (as above.) Just click the "IM/Call" button. A new tab will appear, proceed as above. If you're able to see the Online status of the Friend, it will let you know if the person happens to be offline. Type what you need and the moment you hit Enter you'll get the message "User not online - message will be stored and delivered later." Note that it will tell you this every single time you hit Enter as long as the person is offline. When the person arrives inworld, they will get the IMs that have accumulated while away. It's my understanding that such IMs are "capped" after a certain number, so try not to ramble too much.
If the individual is not on your Friends list, you can pull up that person's profile (we'll get to how to do that in a moment) and click the "Instant Message" button. You won't find out if they're on or offline until you hit Enter (though if the "Offer Teleport" button on their profile is greyed out, chances are, they ain't.)
. . . pull up a Profile?
Somehow I figured you'd be asking that. There are a number of ways.
As with IMing, if the person is in the room with you, you can right-click on their avatar or their name and select "Profile" from the pie menu.
If the person is one of your Friends, you can click their name in your Contacts list (see above) and then click the "Profile" button. Also, if you're in the middle of an IM chat with the person, you can click the "Profile" button at the top of the chat tab, which comes in handy if you want to offer them a Teleport to where you are.
If the person is not on your list and not in the room, their Profile can still be obtained through the wonders of the Search function. Click the "Search" button down along the bottom of the screen. You can try the "Any" tab, but "People" is a little more helpful. Put in the name of the person you're looking for and the nearest matches will appear (including, presumably, the person you're looking for.) Click on the name and, lo, the profile shall appear.