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Three Cheers for Tildes: App updates and feedback (March 2024)
This is a recurring topic for the Three Cheers for Tildes mobile app, which is currently in alpha testing.
I'll summarize the previous month's updates at the start of each topic, so people can read the updates and then hit Ignore if they don't care about more frequent updates and user feedback.
Recently:
Three Cheers version 1.0 is out for Android! (Mar 25, 2024)
- Submit topics!
- Added donation option in Settings
- Share links from other apps to create a Tildes submission
- Edit topic text
- Delete topics
- Require minimum Android 7.1.1
- Fixed refreshing feed after login/logout
iOS v0.11.3 (Mar 28, 2024): Fixed UI bugs and crashes on large iPhones (Pro Max series), particularly when using the in-app WebView browser.
iOS v0.11.2 (Mar 8, 2024): Fixed crashes in Inbox under the Comments tab.
Android and iOS v0.11.0 (Mar 3, 2024)
- Added sort options for topics
- Tap username on comment, and topic OP, to view profile
- View markdown of topic OP
- Fixed minor UI bugs
- (Android) Fixed wrong profile showing via bottom tab, after logging into a different account
Android and iOS v0.10.0 (Feb 15, 2024)
- View and send private messages
- Added button to send private message from a user's profile
- Added "Tap to refresh" when a feed is empty
- Show posted time in topic OP
- Renamed bottom tab to Inbox (instead of Notifications)
- (Android) Removed animation when using bottom tabs
- (Android) Fixed crash when replying from a user's profile
- (iOS) Fixed crash toggling Details in topic OP
- (iOS) Fixed layout bugs with markdown tables
- (iOS) Fixed UI bugs when replying in a user's profile
- (iOS) Fixed minor UI bugs and crashes
Last month's topic: February 2024
Where to get it
Android version on Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.talklittle.android.tildes
iOS version on TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/mpVk1qIy
Amazing work! I'm really impressed by how polished everything seems. I'd been waiting for topic sort options, so that's a welcome addition.
Thanks a lot! I've been spending a decent amount of time on polish, so your recognition means a lot.
Topic sorting was an important missing feature. People should try sorting by New once in a while; it's a good way to see interesting topics that are getting fewer interactions.
I use your app daily. Thank you for all the time and effort you've put in. It really shows!
Feature idea: When you click into a topic, can you add an option that also auto votes it? I do this manually, my reasoning is that if it sounds good enough to read I should vote it up. Clearly something that isn't on by default. Or is this a rubbish idea?
That's not a bad idea at all. I too have been thinking lately how votes on topics seem underused, and how traditional forums often gauge interest by view counts instead. Big numbers going up feels good. (View counts might not jive with Tildes' privacy philosophy though.) Encouraging more voting is a good idea in general.
Three Cheers version 1.0 is out for Android!
Thank you everyone for the emotional support and bug reports and feature requests. This release is a big milestone for the app.
The iOS update is under development. There may be additional bugfix updates before the 1.0 release on iOS.
The Android app is still considered in "testing." I don't know if there's much benefit to releasing to general availability, considering Tildes itself is going to remain invite-only for now.
Also, 1.0 doesn't mean I'm done adding features. There are a lot of missing things I'd still like to add.
Please bear with me for future updates, as I may need to divide my attention among multiple projects, so development speed may be a bit slower.
If anyone's wondering about the Android 7.1.1 requirement, it's because of HTTPS certificates provided by Let's Encrypt. In 2024 one of their root certificates expires, making many websites inaccessible on devices running Android versions earlier than 7.1.1. This includes Tildes and many, many other websites using the popular Let's Encrypt service.
Congrats on the 1.0 release!
Happy to see a donation option, as well!
This is great!
I love the floating plus. I was wondering how you'd do it.
And the tag suggestions are awesome.
Thanks!
Thank you very much! The floating plus button looks simple but I had to make a bunch of subtle and tedious changes to get it working well. Such as the animation, and positioning of other buttons on screen. Build out one design; fix bugs; tweak it; then if unsatisfied start over with a different design.
Similar story with the tag suggestions. They look simple enough but it was tedious trying out a few different designs before I was satisfied.
Does this need to restart or be installed, or is it an automatic update?
It should be automatic, but it sometimes takes Google Play up to a week to automatically update an app, usually overnight.
To force the update, you can open the Play Store -> tap your avatar -> Manage apps & device -> Updates available.
Thanks!
And thanks for the app!
Feature request: Could we have the option to flip the layout of the buttons/clickables to be mirrored? I'd vote on more comments if I didn't have to stretch my right thumb to the left side of the screen. I don't always use my phone with two hands.
In case your missed it, you can double tap anywhere on the comment to like it! My right thumb won't reach the vote button either, so I double tap comments to vote.
Different poster but I didn't know that, thank you!
Oh, thank you!
Thanks very much for private messages and user profile access and topic sorting! It's a very user friendly app
@talklittle I just wanted to say great work so far! I haven't checked out the app since the first release and wow!... There is so much added functionality now. This is on pace to match or even surpass RIF app. Keep it up!
I'm not sure if this is a feature request or a setting somewhere that I don't have on, but I've found it's more difficult to distinguish whether new comments are in response to previous ones or to the higher-level comment once indentation no longer increments. On the mobile website, this is explicitly marked with an indicator that says a comment is in reply to the previous one if further indentation isn't possible, and I'd appreciate something to indicate that in the app.
BTW loving the app so far -- the addition of direct messages has made me finally decide to fully switch over
Thanks for the feedback. There's definitely some work that needs to be done around very deeply nested comment threads.
I agree, and indentation only goes so far with the depth of Tildes discussions.
I'd like to see color-coded child comments. So for example a parent comment would have a white outline for it's thread, next level would have a red outline, next level blue, etc
That plus collapsing the deepest levels would go a long way to making a thread more readable.
ooh yeah color-coding would be nice
Am I crazy? How do I post a new thread with the app? I know you do it from the sidebar on the website but I cannot find it in the app for the life of me.
Posting is still a major known missing feature, one of the few keeping the release from 1.0 iirc
Still a great app for me, my main daily driver for interaction. I do have to log in on my computer to post a topic though.
That's right. Maybe I'll call it 1.0 after adding the topic submission feature. 1.0 doesn't mean feature complete, but I think all the critical functionality will have been added at that point.
Okay, thank you. I must have missed that and just thought I was crazy.
Feature requests-
Swipe topic right to vote
Swipe comment right to vote
Swipe thread left to close thread
Tap comment to collapse
To me it's a lot quicker and easier to swipe with my thumb, rather than hunt and peck to vote.
I also like to read a comment and then collapse as I go - makes longer comments and threads easier to read especially with long form threads.
It would be nice if the thread levels could be differentiated by different colors of separators or boxes - like top level comments have white separators or no boxes, next level could be green, next blue and so on. Would be easier to see the comments / threads together.
Great app and great work, looking forward to see more
@chopin mentioned above that you can double tap comments and topics to vote on them. I didn't know that before today!
Tap to collapse the comment would be my #2 most important feature with #1 being able to post a new topic.
Thanks, these are some good ideas for future quality-of-life improvements I'll consider. (No guarantees though.) As part of it I'd have to play around to find a good balance, and also would need to add configuration settings to turn them on/off.
This slaps! Thank you for doing it!
Bug Report: 3C shows edit time instead of created time for edited comments
Description
When browsing comments in a thread, comments that have been edited are not indicated as such (i.e. no "X ago (edited Y ago)" like on the website).
Additionally the timestamp shown corresponds to the last time the comment was edited, rather than when it was originally posted.
Reproduction Steps
Expected Outcome
The edited comment has some indication that it has been edited, potentially with a timestamp for when.
The edited comment's timestamp should correspond to when it was originally posted.
Actual Outcome
The edited comment has no indication that it was edited.
The edited comment's timestamp is its last edit time.
Device Info
OS: Android 11
Version: 0.11.0
Bug Report: Long pressing an empty text field doesn't bring up a context menu
Description
When authoring a comment, nothing happens if you try to long press the empty text field to bring up a context menu. That context menu would be useful when trying to paste text.
This bug is exceedingly low impact. It only occurs when the text field is empty. Typing anything into the text field will allow long press to bring up a context menu.
Reproduction Steps
Expected Outcome
A context menu would appear, which allows you to paste from your clipboard
Actual Outcome
Nothing
Device Info
OS: Android 11
Version: 0.11.0