CIRCLE WITH A DOT

The ap:// URI-scheme won. it was my favorite anyways #activitypub #fediverse

@pfefferle it could be an opt-in setting.

Here are some other opinions on the subject https://mastodon.social/@dansup/116046651398251538

@pfefferle thanks for clarifying. The image in the object article is secondary and I think it doesn’t make sense without the context of the article where it’s attached. I just don’t see the real value in seeing jt my feed. Specifically because sometimes the images for articles are a bit random, are stock photos or even graphics to try to depict the concept of the article.

@pfefferle i think pixelfed is the wrong client/platform if you want to read articles

@benpate yeah. I understand completely and I feel the same way that the space for communication tools is over saturated. But I do see a value in #matrix for private communication. Private/Direct #messenging in the fediverse is not good and I feel it would take a huge effort to fix it. At the same time there is in matrix already a separate solution that gives me hope about replacing #whatsapp #signal #telegram etc in a way that more aligns to my values and overlaps those of the fediverse.

@benpate what are your thoughts on matrix? I am considering using it in a product I am working on and would love to know why you don’t like it 🧐

I’ve been testing Element X and haven’t found many issues.

@evan @benpate @trwnh @julian @rimu is there a matrix room we could joint? or should I make one?

@julian @sl007 @benpate @trwnh oh ok. I was talking only about native standalone apps and forgot about PWAs… that makes it a bit more complex, but still solvable. Do you use lots of “installed” PWAs?

@sl007 @julian @jaffathecake @benpate but you don’t need approval or the blessing from the browsers to implement a uri scheme right? iTunes used it with itms: , zoom does it.

It works of people have the app. You would only need their support if you want the browser to do something with the uri out of the box when there is no app other than showing an error. Right?

@trwnh @benpate
The issue with PWA targets afaik is that they are like universal/app links -> bound to a domain

Apps from different vendors can pick it up (it’s only a problem if you have more than one on iOS, Android lets you choose)

For 3b to work you would need to tell the page with the content which one is your home server every time for every content

Do you use a browser for the fediverse mostly or an app? I am 100% app

@trwnh @benpate I agree. It should always be web first. But for those that made the leap, choose from the 100,000 servers and have an app, we shouldn’t make them relive the trauma by asking them to log in on every instance where they just want to either follow someone or like something

Imagine i send you the link below through signal. It opens in the browser or webview. If i want to follow them all, i have to log in x times https://joinfediverse.wiki/Notable_Fediverse_accounts

@benpate @trwnh @evan @julian @rimu that was the beauty of the approach. At the time desktop only said “app not available” but still had the destination open below the alert. I don’t know if macOS and other desktop handles it the same way now. I tried this in 2009 the last time but it might be worth a try

On you iPhone it uses the newer approach of registering the domain for universal links (released in 2015). Which won’t work in the fediverse

@benpate @trwnh @evan @julian @rimu I know I implemented it at some point by analyzing what Facebook and co were doing. I think it was kind of a hack, but it worked. It didn’t let you know what was available. It just assumed it worked if you left the page and if you were still there it opened http. Like I said sometimes you had the page open when you came back to the browser (so it effectively opened both) but it wasn’t that annoying

@benpate @trwnh @evan @julian @rimu
Maybe I did not explain it well. Fb, twitter, instagram used JavaScript to try to open their uri. If it failed, they opened the http equivalent

The user did not notice much. If they had the app, it jumped. Sometimes if you returned to the browser the http was opened anyways. But that’s wasn’t very annoying

@trwnh @benpate @evan @julian @rimu totally agree. That’s the “easy” part

Then there is the other way around… going from the browser to a fedi client instead of a website if I have an app installed

@benpate @trwnh @evan @julian @rimu I agree. That’s I like the uri scheme solution, which takes inspiration from the approach twitter, fb, instagram used before universal/app like in 2015 to achieve massive growth

@benpate @trwnh it’s basically using browser.pub as a webclient or activity viewer, right?

If I understand correctly it doesn’t solve the problem that I am logged in in my app and not in the browser

@trwnh @benpate @evan @julian @rimu it worked before 2015 for twitter:, fb:, instagram: in the time of highest growth. Nobody needed to understand anything. It just worked because it was implemented with JavaScript and used http as a fallback which always worked even if the uri scheme failed

@trwnh staying in app is the simplest solution. But the challenge is getting me from the browser to the app without me having to install anything or use the share intent workaround, which doesn’t work because it opens a “new post” as expected by the user when they select “share”

@trwnh @benpate @evan @julian @rimu
I am focused on what can we do pragmatically and realistically as a community to fix the broken experience to help get more people into the fediverse.

A mix of

1) JavaScript for websites that want to link to the fediverse that trigger ap: and offer http fallback (just like fb: before 2015)

2) adding support for ap: on fedi clients

It’s something we can do now. It works and we don’t have to wait for big tech