Thoughts about writing my own mastodon client...
I really don't have the time or energy to start this, but I really really really want to...
I've been writing out ideas in case I do work on it:
- Web based, PWA?
- Treats each list as a unique feed, and allows assigning a priority to each, along with a "default" timeline list that contains everyone who isn't in another list.
- When loading posts the highest priority list with unread posts is shown, and when all posts for that list have been read it moves on to the next highest priority list.
- Multiple options for how posts get marked as read:
- Automatically mark posts as read as they are scrolled off the screen
- Swipe to mark as read.
- Button or menu item per post to mark it as unread, which will keep it unread when scrolling.
- Available actions for a post include:
- Mark as read/unread
- Favorite
- Boost
- Mark entire thread as read (but not future replies)
- Mute thread
- Block sender
- Mute sender
- Allow customizing the behavior of left and right swipes to perform any combination of the actions available per post as listed above.
- If a post has been marked as read and it is boosted to one of your lists then the boost will automatically be marked as read as well.
- Configurable display of boosts that have been marked as read:
- Hide entirely
- Render differently (colors, fonts, size, etc may change)
- Place below a divider
- The read/unread status of posts should be kept in sync across devices, which will require a service that can store this data.
Thoughts about writing my own mastodon client...
@m I've thought about something like that priority list (dip into lower priority lists when one is exhausted), but I ended up just making a chronological feed that keeps my place and is finite. Happier for it. I think maybe "infinite social media" is just not a good idea in practice?
Thoughts about writing my own mastodon client...
@madewokherd My biggest motivation here is to provide a way to ensure that I don't miss things from people who are important to me.
There is a small group where I absolutely want to be sure that I see everything they post.
Then there are a group of people who I want to see what the post, but if I miss some of it because I don't have the spoons, or the time then I'm not too concerned.
Then there are groups where I am interested and want to see their posts but I don't mind at all if I miss it, and simply want the option to see them when I am bored and run out of other stuff.
Thoughts about writing my own mastodon client...
@madewokherd That is encouraging to hear!
Thoughts about writing my own mastodon client...
@m FWIW, having worked a bit with the Mastodon API in a read-only capacity, I found that side of it to be pretty easy.