The Fediverse deserves a dumb graphical client - Comments

The Fediverse deserves a dumb graphical client

jaredkrinke

Are there screenshots? I probably missed them.

mtset

Prior art, c. 2018: https://brutaldon.org/about

zimpenfish

Sure but smolFedi can log me into my Akkoma instance when Brutaldon still can't.

Also Brutaldon is Python (and therefore should be yeeted into the sun) and, at least the last time I tried to install it, an absolute horror show to make work.

donio

My pick for this is mastodon.el for Emacs. It's full featured and since it's Emacs it has excellent keyboard operability and customization. Find it in MELPA or on Codeberg.

oceanhaiyang

Could someone explain what is so non lightweight about mastodon? Is this programs main feature no JavaScript? Is this mainly for users with poor internet?

wink

First of all it says it's compatible with other backends than just Mastodon, and for GoToSocial you need a client anyway. Most people I know use pinafore (or a fork, but they heavily use JS) or one of the mobile clients.

I've had tabs with Mastodon use up a lot of RAM (and autorefresh) so I can see how it would be handy on some low-powered devices like old laptops.

Oh, and if you Mastodon instance is blocked then your personal web space is probably not blocked, so this should work as well.

mhd

No JS, simple HTML/CSS, so suitable for older systems. Think feature phone or whatever you've got on your PowerPC Mac or Windows XP PC. The author also references their "smolweb" guidelines.

bbbhltz

I've been using this a little. Great project since brutaldon development has stopped (I think...) and it works in Dillo.

mariusor

I really wish people would try to make clients for the ActivityPub client to server protocol, not just for Mastodon. :(

If anyone is interested in that, I can help.

MarkMLl

So if I read the linked article correctly, it's a server interposed between the Fediverse and the user's HTML client ("browser") rather than a local client written in Python, Go or whatever.

I'm sure the author's intent is benign, but it could easily be interpreted as an attempt to muscle-in and potentially commercialise.

mhd

could easily be interpreted as an attempt to muscle-in and potentially commercialise.

Easily? I have a hard time picturing a cunning plan here, how would one do that? It's an alternative client to a protocol/server, just like your email client. There's a lot of things like this already, e.g. Elk, Phanpy or Brutaldon.

jaredkrinke

Are there screenshots? I probably missed them.

mtset

Prior art, c. 2018: https://brutaldon.org/about

zimpenfish

Sure but smolFedi can log me into my Akkoma instance when Brutaldon still can't.

Also Brutaldon is Python (and therefore should be yeeted into the sun) and, at least the last time I tried to install it, an absolute horror show to make work.

donio

My pick for this is mastodon.el for Emacs. It's full featured and since it's Emacs it has excellent keyboard operability and customization. Find it in MELPA or on Codeberg.

oceanhaiyang

Could someone explain what is so non lightweight about mastodon? Is this programs main feature no JavaScript? Is this mainly for users with poor internet?

wink

First of all it says it's compatible with other backends than just Mastodon, and for GoToSocial you need a client anyway. Most people I know use pinafore (or a fork, but they heavily use JS) or one of the mobile clients.

I've had tabs with Mastodon use up a lot of RAM (and autorefresh) so I can see how it would be handy on some low-powered devices like old laptops.

Oh, and if you Mastodon instance is blocked then your personal web space is probably not blocked, so this should work as well.

mhd

No JS, simple HTML/CSS, so suitable for older systems. Think feature phone or whatever you've got on your PowerPC Mac or Windows XP PC. The author also references their "smolweb" guidelines.

bbbhltz

I've been using this a little. Great project since brutaldon development has stopped (I think...) and it works in Dillo.

mariusor

I really wish people would try to make clients for the ActivityPub client to server protocol, not just for Mastodon. :(

If anyone is interested in that, I can help.

MarkMLl

So if I read the linked article correctly, it's a server interposed between the Fediverse and the user's HTML client ("browser") rather than a local client written in Python, Go or whatever.

I'm sure the author's intent is benign, but it could easily be interpreted as an attempt to muscle-in and potentially commercialise.

mhd

could easily be interpreted as an attempt to muscle-in and potentially commercialise.

Easily? I have a hard time picturing a cunning plan here, how would one do that? It's an alternative client to a protocol/server, just like your email client. There's a lot of things like this already, e.g. Elk, Phanpy or Brutaldon.