32 votes

Wallflower.app -- A "Literary" (read: calm) Mastodon and BlueSky web app

31 comments

  1. Leahey
    Link
    Hey folks! Got lots of positive feedback and suggestions/bug reports/etc. for my word game PIVOT. My latest is a very PIVOT-inspired social media "client" (right now just a web app, iOS incoming)....

    Hey folks! Got lots of positive feedback and suggestions/bug reports/etc. for my word game PIVOT.

    My latest is a very PIVOT-inspired social media "client" (right now just a web app, iOS incoming). It is very opinionated and geared toward what frazzles me on modern social media apps, so it may not be for everyone. But PIVOT seemed to be for many of you, so I thought I would share here.

    Not selling anyone anything, just sharing.

    8 votes
  2. [5]
    Leahey
    Link
    Hey folks! For those of you that asked, there is a TestFlight beta for an iOS/iPadOS version: https://testflight.apple.com/join/ffUv5HTs

    Hey folks! For those of you that asked, there is a TestFlight beta for an iOS/iPadOS version: https://testflight.apple.com/join/ffUv5HTs

    3 votes
    1. [2]
      paris
      Link Parent
      I would love the option to have followed hashtags in confluence! (GREAT name, btw!!)

      I would love the option to have followed hashtags in confluence! (GREAT name, btw!!)

      1. Leahey
        Link Parent
        Love it, will add it to the todo list!

        Love it, will add it to the todo list!

        1 vote
  3. [2]
    paris
    Link
    I love this. Absolutely beautiful and perfect. I will hold out for an iOS release for the devices, but on the browser it looks and feels incredible. (I so enjoy the heart and boost symbols...

    I love this. Absolutely beautiful and perfect. I will hold out for an iOS release for the devices, but on the browser it looks and feels incredible. (I so enjoy the heart and boost symbols replaced by text. it feels extra slow, extra intentional.) Thank you for sharing! Can’t wait to see more!!

    2 votes
    1. Leahey
      Link Parent
      Thank you so much, you're too kind!

      Thank you so much, you're too kind!

      1 vote
  4. [3]
    moocow1452
    Link
    Question since you played around in the protocol, do either Bluesky or Mastodon allow for viewer apps without making an account, or is it a requirement to have an account just so things won't get...

    Question since you played around in the protocol, do either Bluesky or Mastodon allow for viewer apps without making an account, or is it a requirement to have an account just so things won't get scraped?

    2 votes
    1. Leahey
      Link Parent
      Bluesky yep, need an account. Mastodon is instance by instance.

      Bluesky yep, need an account. Mastodon is instance by instance.

      4 votes
    2. artvandelay
      Link Parent
      I believe you are free to browse both sites without an account, owing to the decentralized nature of the tech the sites are built on.

      I believe you are free to browse both sites without an account, owing to the decentralized nature of the tech the sites are built on.

      2 votes
  5. [4]
    paris
    Link
    A couple unexpected things now that I’ve used it a bit (and have been loving it every moment) There seems to be some unexpected behaviour with images on text-filtered posts. The text appears as it...

    A couple unexpected things now that I’ve used it a bit (and have been loving it every moment)

    There seems to be some unexpected behaviour with images on text-filtered posts. The text appears as it should (filter$filterName show anyway?) but the associated image appears regardless. Ideally the image would be either hidden or at least blurred until click. https://imgur.com/a/pikaIQz

    On iPad the third column is automatically whatever group / list i have, and there’s no way to change/close this. Had I my druthers, i’d like to be able to assign that third column a hashtag that i follow, or at least close it.

    I absolutely adore the inclusion of alt text without having to click. The font choices are peak. Everything else so far is great!!

    2 votes
    1. [3]
      Leahey
      Link Parent
      Thanks for the heads up on the filtered image leak -- that is most definitely a bug and it should now be resolved. I moved the entire post inside the filtered veil now, let me know if you have...

      Thanks for the heads up on the filtered image leak -- that is most definitely a bug and it should now be resolved. I moved the entire post inside the filtered veil now, let me know if you have further issues there (yikes!).

      You should now be able to close the column. Previously, when you cleared it the column snapped back to your first list on reload -- now one you touch the picker, your choice should stick.

      Thank you again for the kind words and incredibly valuable feedback, keep it coming on both fronts if you don't mind!

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        paris
        Link Parent
        Thank you for such a quick fix! I’ll keep an eye out for anything unexpected. I have to say, I moved to the fediverse exactly to embrace a slower internet. This that you’ve made just furthers that...

        Thank you for such a quick fix! I’ll keep an eye out for anything unexpected.

        I have to say, I moved to the fediverse exactly to embrace a slower internet. This that you’ve made just furthers that concept into what feels natural and “right,” very much in the “why wasn’t it already like this?” sense. So i really appreciate, and will continue to use.

        Would it be alright for me to share the link to the web app with my fediverse feed? I wasn’t sure if this was meant as something small or just-for-tildes. 🙌

        3 votes
        1. Leahey
          Link Parent
          Please do share, and let folks know I'm @andrew@esq.social if they come across anything fiddly. Thank you again!

          Please do share, and let folks know I'm @andrew@esq.social if they come across anything fiddly. Thank you again!

          1 vote
  6. [2]
    Jeybork
    Link
    I enjoy this quite a lot. Any chance of an android app? Or a way to get an email when you release the iOS app ( to try on my ipad). Thank you.

    I enjoy this quite a lot. Any chance of an android app? Or a way to get an email when you release the iOS app ( to try on my ipad). Thank you.

    2 votes
    1. Leahey
      Link Parent
      I'll definitely look into an Android app -- and I'll sort out some way to get an alert out to folks about the iOS beta. I'd rather not collect folks' email addresses, but if I put up a small...

      I'll definitely look into an Android app -- and I'll sort out some way to get an alert out to folks about the iOS beta. I'd rather not collect folks' email addresses, but if I put up a small banner on the web app and it seems like people aren't getting word, I'll revisit that.

      4 votes
  7. [6]
    all_summer_beauty
    Link
    This is not intended as a "gotcha" or accusation, I just want to understand more about how this stuff works! In the privacy statement, it says But uBlock is telling me it blocked...

    This is not intended as a "gotcha" or accusation, I just want to understand more about how this stuff works! In the privacy statement, it says

    No analytics. No event tracking. No tag managers, no third-party scripts.

    But uBlock is telling me it blocked static.cloudflareinsights.com, which appears in "Peter Lowe's ad and tracking server list". The full URL points to a JS script (I think?). What's going on there?

    2 votes
    1. [5]
      Leahey
      Link Parent
      Not a gotcha at all, a real contradiction. Thanks for drawing my attention to it. There was unquestionably a Cloudflare Beacon that I copied over from other projects (FRTracker and TOSTracker) and...

      Not a gotcha at all, a real contradiction. Thanks for drawing my attention to it. There was unquestionably a Cloudflare Beacon that I copied over from other projects (FRTracker and TOSTracker) and never reexamined. That beacon is now removed.

      Further, I was not sufficiently clear in the privacy policy and have now updated it. "No analytics" is an overstatement, even with the Cloudflare Beacon removed. I have first party telemetry that gives me a daily count of active readers and anonymous error/stall/load-ok information. That is, functionally, event-tracking. It may not show up on uBlock, but it's there.

      I reckon this is a sufficient misstatement to warrant a full disclosure, so I made one on the privacy policy with the update: https://thewallflower.app/privacy

      4 votes
      1. [4]
        all_summer_beauty
        Link Parent
        Thanks for the quick response! I love this idea and the app feels mostly great already. I'm still seeing the Cloudflare beacon though... It's totally possible I'm not understanding something (I'm...

        Thanks for the quick response! I love this idea and the app feels mostly great already.

        I'm still seeing the Cloudflare beacon though... It's totally possible I'm not understanding something (I'm no web dev), but it still shows up in uBlock's main panel and in its full logger. The complete address is https://static.cloudflareinsights.com/beacon.min.js/v833ccba57c9e4d2798f2e76cebdd09a11778172276447. In case it was a cookie/cache thing, I tried it on a different device, then on the second device inside a private Firefox window, and saw the same behavior.

        Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help fix this!

        1 vote
        1. [3]
          Leahey
          Link Parent
          Thanks again, can you try refreshing (sorry for turning you into a bug checker here) and see if it's gone? I'm fiddling on the Cloudflare load managing dashboard itself now. I had already turned...

          Thanks again, can you try refreshing (sorry for turning you into a bug checker here) and see if it's gone? I'm fiddling on the Cloudflare load managing dashboard itself now. I had already turned off all Web Analytics, but now I've deleted the site from the analytics dashboard entirely.

          1 vote
  8. [3]
    Synth
    Link
    Weirdly, when I try to join with the Helium browser, it tells me it can't find the Ip adress. hmm.

    Weirdly, when I try to join with the Helium browser, it tells me it can't find the Ip adress. hmm.

    1 vote
    1. [2]
      Leahey
      Link Parent
      This is a weird one -- is it possible it is appending a www. on to the domain? If so, I fixed that issue now.

      This is a weird one -- is it possible it is appending a www. on to the domain? If so, I fixed that issue now.

      1 vote
      1. Synth
        Link Parent
        I don't know what happened, I logged out and rebooted in another OS to check if it was working, and it was, so I boot back into the first one to see what's wrong and now, it works. So I'm on it,...

        I don't know what happened, I logged out and rebooted in another OS to check if it was working, and it was, so I boot back into the first one to see what's wrong and now, it works. So I'm on it, and it's lovely, thank you very much :D

        1 vote
  9. [5]
    Leahey
    Link
    Thanks so much everyone that has tested/sent feedback. We're about 100 builds and as many squashed bugs deep. iOS/iPadOS: https://testflight.apple.com/join/ffUv5HTs Web: https://thewallflower.app

    Thanks so much everyone that has tested/sent feedback. We're about 100 builds and as many squashed bugs deep.

    iOS/iPadOS: https://testflight.apple.com/join/ffUv5HTs
    Web: https://thewallflower.app

    1 vote
    1. [4]
      georgeboff
      Link Parent
      Good afternoon, I've been using the web app with no issues for the past week or two (I made a bluesky account) and have been enjoying it - thank you :). But today my home feed is empty despite...

      Good afternoon, I've been using the web app with no issues for the past week or two (I made a bluesky account) and have been enjoying it - thank you :). But today my home feed is empty despite showing posts in the bsky app itself. I can take some screenshots if that'd be helpful. I am using Firefox for Android version 152.0.1.

      1. [3]
        Leahey
        Link Parent
        Oh no! That is a much less than desirable situation. Can you try force-reloading the page and see if the issue persists? I'll see what I can see on this end. Edit: Said "force restarting the app"...

        Oh no! That is a much less than desirable situation. Can you try force-reloading the page and see if the issue persists? I'll see what I can see on this end.

        Edit: Said "force restarting the app" when I meant cache busting the page.

        1. [2]
          georgeboff
          Link Parent
          So it was apparently an account issue - after opening the page up again this evening I did get an error message saying my session had expired and a link to the settings page where I needed to...

          So it was apparently an account issue - after opening the page up again this evening I did get an error message saying my session had expired and a link to the settings page where I needed to remove and re-add my account. I have done so and reauthorized at bluesky and all is well on the page now.

          One note I do have is that when I removed my account it took me to the page to add a new one, but it was specifically the Mastodon account page. I needed to back out and go back to the front to get the bluesky account field.

          Thanks again for the program :)

          1. Leahey
            Link Parent
            Good note, thank you! That flow should be resolved now.

            Good note, thank you! That flow should be resolved now.