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Alexandrite is a Beautiful Web Frontend for Lemmy (wedistribute.org)
submitted 1 year ago by hedge@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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[-] freamon@endlesstalk.org 24 points 1 year ago

I'm using it right now on new.endlesstalk.org

It's beautiful yes, but it's also kinda dumb. Lots of page elements (like the community banner and notifications section) need manually refreshing to show anything, and I need to press 'Go' after changing view (like Subscribed/All or Hot/New) like the web of ancient times. This may just be how it's implemented at endlesstalk, but there's other irritations like not having the option to upload a picture when creating posts, and it not actually doing anything if I change my settings to toggle 'Show NSFW'

[-] darcmage@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago

It looks like that instance isn't using the most up-to-date version since the "press go" issue has been fixed. Try to keep in mind that the initial commit was on June 24 and it's still very early in the development stage. If you look at the commits, you can see the developer has been very active.

[-] Lycan@beehaw.org 10 points 1 year ago

To be fair, according to the article this project is less than a month old! I'm sure it will continue to improve.

[-] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 14 points 1 year ago

I don't like webui's for lemmy. This means they're getting all your traffic. It's a mitm situation again, much like google's amp links.

If I'm running a dedicated app, I can validate that my traffic is going directly to my instance and not being farmed and sold by a 3rd party behind the scenes.

[-] curiousgoo@beehaw.org 10 points 1 year ago

Uhh.. not clear on what you're claiming here... you can validate the traffic is going to the expected instance using a web app, without requiring any special software by running Developer tools and heading to the network tab.

[-] AnarchoYeasty@beehaw.org 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Web front ends currently require a backend service that then routes to your intended destination because Lemmy servers by default are configured with cors to only allow requests from their intended domain. There is a PR to fix it but I don't believe it's been merged in. This may be out of date but that was true as of a few weeks ago per the dev of Voyager which is the web frontend I use

edit: this is no longer true. A PR 2 weeks ago fixed this issue and web front ends are able to work just as well as a native app now.

[-] aserraric@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 year ago

I've looked at the traffic, and all calls go directly to the API of my instance. I don't think Alexandrite even runs a backend.

[-] AnarchoYeasty@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Turns out the cors issue was fixed the other week. Nevermind then.

[-] curiousgoo@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I see, but how is this different in a phone app? Wouldn't the request still be made to a backend?

[-] AnarchoYeasty@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago

1.) Turns out this is no longer true because the cors issue is fixed as of two weeks ago.

But to answer your question:

Well that's the really silly part about it. You see, the way CORS works is that it only works if the client making the request implements cors. In this case when I say client I'm talking about your web browser itself. Native applications, or hitting an API directly via network calls, don't implement cors and thus you can make the calls all you want and the server responds. So even when cors was configured to only allow requests from the correct domain it only affected people with web browsers.

However two weeks ago a PR was merged into the Lemmy source code setting the cors to by default allow requests from anyone instead of a specific domain.

[-] anlumo@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

That checks it only for the current session, though. The app might do nefarious things only on new moons, or on a specific date. It might also get updated at any point with completely new code without you noticing.

[-] GammaGames@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Seems needlessly paranoid

[-] anlumo@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Same level of paranoia that makes someone check the dev tools for data transfers in the first place.

[-] nhgeek@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

100%

[-] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 1 year ago

I've been planning a frontend a bit like this. I'm glad I'm not the only one that wanted a solid, widescreen friendly, single tab interface... because I was unlikely to ever work on the one I was thinking of.

[-] stagen@feddit.dk 8 points 1 year ago

Using it right now and I'm astounded by how smooth it is. Will be using this for the desktop from now on.

[-] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 year ago

This looks amazing. I'm currently using Dracula for Lemmy but I might switch to this.

Can someone let me know if the login is using Oauth? Or is it submitted directly to the server? I'm not saying it's malicious or anything but I just want to be vigilant and check.

[-] aserraric@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago

It's not exactly OAuth, but the webapp logs in at the chosen instance via its API and gets issued a JWT it uses for all subsequent requests.

[-] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks! I was hesitant because it had me put in the 2FA code right on the log on page but I guess that's not a big deal since it changes ever 30 seconds or so.

[-] realitista@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago

Where might I find this Dracula for Lemmy you speak of?

[-] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's at: https://userstyles.world/style/10759/draculemmy-a-dracula-theme-for-lemmy

https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/665490

(I don't know how to link to the original post or the one in your own instance sorry but the original post to credit the author is here: https://userstyles.world/style/10759/draculemmy-a-dracula-theme-for-lemmy - it's in !Fediverse@lemmy.world and the title is "I created a Dracula theme for Lemmy" by sillyhatsonly)

[-] Uniquitous@lemmy.one 6 points 1 year ago

Wow, that is much nicer. Though I would have settled just for "default opening links in new tabs"

[-] Zeus@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

you can do that with a userscript if you want to keep the lemmy interface

although i do not understand why people like this. just middle click instead?

[-] accesslog@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago

I don’t use mouse so no middle click.

Where is the userscript option? Using a browser extension?

[-] Zeus@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

this is a userscript that i'm using, and has the option to enable open all links in new tab. i also found this whilst searching for it just now, but i haven't used it

but what device are you using that doesn't have a mouse, trackpad, or ctrl key?

[-] accesslog@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks. I do use trackpad but I prefer one-click setting like I have it on old.reddit.

[-] Uniquitous@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago

It's such a sensible and common default that I'm unused to being required to middle click.

[-] Zeus@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

i personally think it's a terrible default. a normal link i can easily choose to open here, in a new tab, or in a new window. target="_blank" removes that choice, and forces me to open it how the site dev wishes

I've always seen it as a dark pattern to keep users on the site (like bing uses it^[see also old reddit doing the user friendly thing of same tab, new reddit opening a new tab]). it was really nice to see lemmy not doing that. it's weird to see people calling it sensible

[-] Uniquitous@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

Well I personally disagree with you and prefer new links to appear in a new tab by default. Funny how preferences work, eh?

[-] Zeus@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

yeah, that's a preference not a default. feel free to configure your preferences howsoever you prefer. if it's a configurable preference it's not a dark pattern, it's just an option

[-] Nitrousoxide@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

This is neat, but I'm not really comfortable putting my password in for a separate front end

[-] realitista@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

Same thing you do on an app.

[-] distractedcactus@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago

I've been using it for the last day or so on a separate account and I like it so far. It's a new app and there's plenty of stuff planned for it, but the ability to open comments in a separate column instead of another tab is fantastic. There's already a request for light mode in the repo, which is my biggest issue right now.

[-] z3n0x@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago

nice! this might just become my daily driver

[-] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 4 points 1 year ago

Looks great, but I can't seen any installation doco in the repo. How are people using it? Via alexandrite's own website?

[-] WhipperSnapper@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

You can, and I'm doing that right now. Logged into lemmy.ml through their site. However, I can see how one might be hesitant to log in through a 3rd party like this. It does look really nice, but I do wish it had a light mode as well.

[-] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah, after looking around, it seems that's the only option. I'd rather self-host something like this, if possible. I'll look into contacting the dev and ask.

[-] aserraric@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

I haven't tried it, but looking at the source, but you should be able to simply clone the repo, run "npm install" and "npm run build" and deploy the output to a webserver.

[-] renard_roux@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Does anyone have an opinion about how it compares to Wefwef/Voyager?

Edit: Nevermind, just noticed it's desktop first, so no real comparison to Voyager, which is mobile first.

[-] fades@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Wow, truly amazing compared to the native lemmy UI. Won’t use it much since I mostly browse on mobile with an app I like, but definitely bookmarked for pc lemmy browsing

[-] frasassi@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

Kinda looks like kbin

[-] realcaseyrollins@kbin.projectsegfau.lt 3 points 1 year ago

That does look pretty!

[-] valen@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

Looks like it's strictly one server. Too bad I can't connect to multiple servers and switch between them.

[-] wtry@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Can confirm

[-] CapedStanker@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

Looks nice but I wouldn't mind a light mode..

[-] nyakojiru@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

Its horrible

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this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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