Notices by Lisa Melton (lisamelton@mastodon.social), page 2

@WarnerCrocker Thanks for including me in this list of awesome people! 💖

@GottaLaff @johnvoorhees @dsilverman @davemark @mckra1g @ianRobinson @muz4now @davidtoddmccarty @RickiTarr @StillIRise1963

After the disruption from the nightly build on Monday, I began experimenting with both @phanpy and @elk, alternate Web interfaces for Mastodon.

While #Elk is quite nice with always-available mouse-based back navigation, it doesn't seem to support either multi-column views or auto-refreshing timelines.

So, #Phanpy is a much better fit for my use case. However, it suffers the same limitation sorting notifications as the current unfixed nightly build, i.e. no quick-access filter bar.

1/4

With #Phanpy, liking or boosting posts---as you know, something I might do once or twice a day 🙄---requires multiple clicks since Phanpy's timeline post preview tiles don't have affordances for either task. 🤦♀️

You need to right click on a post preview for a context menu or left click to get an enlarged view in order to like or boost. And for boosting you need another click to select between a normal boost and a quote post. This dance is... very inconvenient. 😬

3/4

And while #Phanpy allows creating a shortcut/pinned column for most views, including an individual List, for some mind-numbing reason Phanpy does *NOT* allow the Lists view itself (i.e. the view of *all* your lists) to be a shortcut/pinned column. 🤦♀️

Why is this important? Because if you have a shitload of lists like I do, then going back and forth from the master Lists view is something you do *A LOT*. And you don't want to shortcut/pin that many single List views.

2/4

Still, #Phanpy is worth checking out if you're an over-caffeinated Mastodon power user like I am.

I wish the developers well and hope they keep iterating on it. 💖

4/4

@renchap OK, are you going to "adjust accordingly" now that you've got feedback?

@qurlyjoe @Gargron

@renchap Thank you, but I figured a strong but polite public post would be the best way to get my point across. And also show support for that point from others.

No disrespect, but I find that GitHub issues sink into oblivion with a project of this size. This ain't my first rodeo, in software development or Open Source.

Now, is there a timeline for reverting the changes so I can get back to my job?

@qurlyjoe @Gargron

@renchap @Gargron Good morning from California. 🌞

Are there more details or an update about the fix to the two issues I brought up on Monday, i.e. restoring the "Notifications" column quick-access filter bar and "Back" buttons for other columns to the Web interface?

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. 💖

@renchap I understand your developer constraints and time zone. Thank you.

But please be aware that the current state of the Mastodon Web client severely impacts my ability to curate and augment the feed of over 25,000 other accounts. Most importantly, the speed at which I can do that.

I already donate multiple hours of my day for this task. At this point, I can't really dedicate more time. My apologies.

@qurlyjoe @Gargron

@Gargron Yes, but that's an absolute pain in the ass to use when you're rapidly switching back and forth between notification types as I do.

And I'm sure it's stressful for anyone with accessibility issues to constantly click on the gear icon and navigate the complexity of the configuration system.

I'm sorry, but your suggestion is not an adequate solution.

@paul @WarnerCrocker

@Gargron No, the "Back" button has been completely removed from the top of the "Explore" and "Lists" tabs. Just to name two.

Jesus, man, these are essential to how I do my work!

With the incredible shitload of notifications that I get, I have to filter by every notification type. I need that row of icons back.

Please.

And here's *another* hostile UI simplification in the v4.3.0-nightly.2024-03-18 build of the Mastodon advanced Web interface:

Gone are the not-just-handy but essential-to-me-and-I-assume-others "Back" navigation buttons at the top of each column. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?!

Is someone actively trying to ruin the advanced Web interface by simplifying it into uselessness?

Why piss off your power users who try to make this place more engaging?

/cc @Gargron

@WarnerCrocker That's not at all what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the row of icons that used to be at the top of the column to *easily* filter the view.

@Gargron

I always use the advanced Web interface for Mastodon to do my "boosting thang" efficiently.

Normally I don't comment on the software. But a sudden change to the Notifications tab in the v4.3.0-nightly.2024-03-18 build is really pissing me off.

I can now only choose between viewing "All" and "Mentions." Gone is the ability to *easily* filter by notification type in the column header.

WTF?!? This is a *hostile* UI simplification. Please revert this. Thank you.

/cc @Gargron

@inthehands The thing to remember is that writing a "small" Web browser is actually more complicated than writing a "small" operating system. 😂 Trust mom on this one.

@deirdresm

@deirdresm Ugh. So sorry you had to endure that bullshit.

As for me, I’m looking forward to the first motherfucker who tries to mansplain Web browsers to me. Poor bastard won’t know what hit him.

@rooster Forgive me your highness! 🙇♀️

@rooster And, as I always say, there's a reason for that. Because even without the hair and makeup you are so very obviously a beautiful woman. 💖

Albeit with an unusual taste in hats. 🤔

@Gargron Indeed! And I use it all the time. It's one of the many mechanisms I use to find posts to boost.

@not2b @Jugi

@ics It *is* interesting. And it’s boosted! 💖