Visually explaining the Mastodon Bird UI with arrows and annotations. Annotation boxes: - More thought put in selecting icons. For example visually a letter makes more sense instead of just "@". Also the minimal style is pleasing to the eye here. - Full, real numbers everywhere! For people with autism or OCD it's crucial to have real facts instead of "40+" or "1+" in comments etc. - Not all lists are visible by default, they show up on hover/keyboard toggle. - Visually less icons in different lines, less "noise". - Visual vertical line indicator for threads. - Larger right sidebar and compose box by default to create a better breathing area for composing your posts. - Round avatars. Let's face it, roundness is more modern and minimal, there is no way around it (pun intended) - More breathing space in between of columns. - Wider center column. Mastodon default is 580px, mine is 600px. It makes a difference. - You can expand the compose box freely in all directions. - Border-radius for buttons make it look minimal and pleasing to the eye. - Minimal scrollbar that does not stand out any more than necessary.

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   Roni Laukkarinen (rolle@mementomori.social)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Apr-2023 16:13:00 JST Roni Laukkarinen

   #Mastodon is far better than any microblogging service out there. It has all the features that many don't, for example content warnings, editing posts, high character count, post visibility settings per post etc... It's a dream as platform. However #UI-wise I think it still has long way to go. The current default UI feels old-ish and a bit clunky. Thankfully it can be improved by apps and UIs.

   Because Mastodon is #OpenSource, I've been able to make changes to my own instance. I've seen lots of different social media UI's since the times of Jaiku and there are good choices that have been forgotten. The hellsite got most of it right and it's been my inspiration in regards to user interface. As a designer and developer I create the UI improvements for myself that I think Mastodon is missing.

   Hence, the #MastodonBirdUI was born.

   There have been lots of suddle changes over the weeks in my instance. Let me present some of these. I'm quite proud of what I have achieved as a designer and developer. My instance is now top notch for me. There is always room for improvement, but it's already like 99.9% there.

   I just hope Mastodon itself will get even a pinch of these in the core, some day. Most notably the real numbers for OCD and neurodivergent people, free resizing of the compose box (#a11y), one level threads and if one can hope, a bit of white space and minimalism in the design.

   Get Mastodon Bird UI here: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui

   #UI #CSS #MastoAdmin #Accesibility #OCD #Perfectionism #Design #UIDesign