this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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Which, again, is why I was pointing this out in reply to someone asking if it could be used as the default ui on a lemmy instance.
I get that. Thing is an instance can use multiple alternative front ends, so I don’t want to shut down the question, because it’d make sense to run one for desktop and mobile (voyager for example).
Or possibly just adjust aspects of the responsive design to correctly present for mobile viewports, but the point still stands that having it as a default for an instance is a premature notion right now due to anyone logging into that instance on a mobile browser.
Yea … All good.
I also backed up and now see what you meant about being able to have multiple front ends for an instance. I read that as being able to select a frontend, not as having an “instance.com” and a “m.instance.com” at the same time, but that would solve the concern I raised. Yeah, we’re good.
👍
Yea,
lemmy.worldhavem.lemmy.worldthat provides voyager nee wefwef.endlesstalk.orghave three.m.endlesstalkfor voyager,old.for the old reddit web ui andnew.for alexandrite.Kinda cool! I'm not sure many other fediverse platforms are doing it, in part, I'm sure, to the hard separation that lemmy has between its backend and frontend.
Interesting, I have a lemmy.world account but I don’t think I’ve seen the mobile view in my browser. At least, the url stays the same for me, it’s one of the reasons I didn’t consider that possibility. I’m used to seeing a m.domain variant on other sites. I’ll have to experiment and see if going to that specific url changes something.
edit: I’ll be damned, it does give me a whole different interface I never knew about.
Yea ... it's a completely different 3rd party front end!! Their community is at !voyagerapp@lemmy.world
Well now I have a new “app” to test. I could login with my reddthat account just fine, and it acts like a native app on iphone if I first open it in safari and then add it to the home screen. I can “close” it and it remembers my account just fine on reopen. TIL more things about lemmy.
Yep ... voyager is a PWA!
Personally, I much prefer all of the alternative WebUI frontends to the native apps.
While the native apps can be awesome, and all of their developers are doing great things for the fediverse, right now the fediverse is, IMO, best thought of as a web first ecosystem, just because of how DIY, volunteer/FOSS and non-profit it is. Alternative webUIs seem to me a better and faster way to get flexibility and user options across the fediverse.
They also avoid what I fear is a dark pattern with mobile apps, which is that the platform that gets a good mobile app all of a sudden has a significant advantage and "market inertia". But expecting the creator of a new platform to create two mobile apps is way too much. And so you have to wait for mobile developers, which is almost certainly a popularity contest with a pretty strong feedback loop. This seems to me contrary to the spirit, goals and even health of the fediverse at the moment, which is very much still in an experimental prototyping phase.
Plus, these PWAs work pretty well and seem to clearly be developed faster, and of course, are inherently cross-platform ... because you know, that's what the internet is about.
well said 👏