Artemis App

Okay, disclaimer this is just a "not even 5 minutes in" type of thing at this point, but I wanted to start the complaining about a few things already. ;)
Also, I use it without an account at this point. I don't know if that affects any of the app features right now, besides the obvious ones to communicate & vote of course.

• Compact mode thumbnails are microscopic in size. Thumbnail size is already a sore spot for me because most Reddit & Lemmy apps are also pretty bad in that regard (likely focusing more on the big cards, dunno), but this is by far the worst example I've seen. It's especially sad considering that the desktop kbin page is the polar opposite to this. In compact mode it actually fills the entire space out that is available to it.

• Thumbnails also cannot be swapped to the left side.

• I love that there's an option to have all comments collapsed. However, I'd like it if I manually collapse a comment again (if we talk about the top level one), that it does not collapse the entire thing, including the content, but goes back to its previous state. I assume this might've been a case of "afterwards it is already read so we don't need it" design choice, but I'd like to see an option where collapsing comments manually doesn't do that.

• The "swipe left to go back" option does not seem to do anything, or I am misunderstanding how it is supposed to work?

• After scrolling for even just a little bit the app starts to slow down significantly.

• The Android icon could be improved instead of just being a small square in a circle (I believe that's like the stock default icon settings on the newer Android versions).

Attached: 1 image New neon theme for #ArtemisApp is my favorite ❤️ Just in time for public beta. Finished the build and submitting for review. Will post back once it’s ready in a day or two 🚀 #kbin #kbinapp #threadiverse #redditmigration #apollo

I tried registering on artemis.camp, but my confirmation link expired and there's no way to have it resent. I tried logging in, but it says my account isn't active. When I try to recreate it, it says my email is taken. I tried using the contact form, but no response.

Where do I go for help?

Click through for a screenshot of #ArtemisApp.
This is cross linked from Hariette's Mastodon profile:

Test driving the release candidate for v0.2.0 of #ArtemisApp. It’s the first version that’s gonna be publicly available. Within the week 🚀 /kbin API is still due for release. But you’ll be able to use the https://artemis.camp instance, that has a fork of the official API. Support for other instances will roll out as soon as the API ships. And #Lemmy support is coming in a week or two :) #Threadiverse #kbin #kbinapp #ios #android

Getting close to a release candidate for next update and the public beta on https://artemis.camp instance!

Hi,

I noticed microblogging was mentioned in the FAQ. Is it still planned at some point? (I am hesitating to create a Mastodon account for this, but I would much prefer to centralize everything under my kbin account if possible).

Please check the FAQ regularly or semi-regularly, as it will be continuously updated as time goes on. As of the time of writing, more details regarding the public beta and monetisation have been added.

Including new icons like Kibby and more! Really ironing things out in preparation for public beta! Gonna be a huge update for existing testers 😉

Back in June 13 I jumped ship from Reddit.

https://tech.lgbt/media_proxy/110539622656202665/original

I went with kbin but really needed an App. So I said I would make one... And, well, four hour later, I had the first prototype of what would become Artemis!

A Long But Short Way

It really hasn't been much but it feels like a LOT of time has happened. I blame the massive influx point we're at in the #Threadiverse. But also, just how much of a community has formed around Artemis. The Discord is only a few weeks old but has over 1,200+ users. So many people helping from every corner. And over 4,000 testers signed up!

Only 700 are actively using the private beta right now. That's soon about to change...

/kbin API

This PR adds an official API to /kbin, it's mostly done and in review.

During this time, Artemis has been using a homegrown API that uses browser automation to interface with /kbin. Great for the limited beta but not really scalable. Still, it allow me to build the foundation that makes the app today.

Once the API goes live, it'll be time to say goodbye to the scrappy backend. And hello to faster and more reliable everything.

Public Beta

Artemis is still in beta, tons I want to do and tons I want and have to fix/improve. But with no /kbin app in sight, I'll be opening up the beta within the next few weeks, based on how long the API PR takes.

To not make people in the queue wait longer. I'll be inviting our biggest wave of tester to try it out. Using the https://artemis.camp instance. A fork with the current API changes that are in development.

I'm preparing for that by wrapping up the integration with new API. Fixing some high pri bugs. And doing an accessibility pass, which some of our testers have already gotten ahead of!

Keep an eye on your inbox, our discord+matrix and this magazine for more info :)

Links

FAQs
Sign Up Sheet
Ko-fi, fund Artemis development

Some more info and the reasoning behind design decisions.

Artemis’ quiver is a reworked Artemis’ kbin community icon, but while that icon had 7 arrows for good luck, this one has five — for future five stars in the App Store :)

Stellar siblings is called that because the stars on the background are taken from a region in the night sky that includes the Lyra constellation — one that is associated with Apollo, Artemis’ brother. Larger stars are from the constellation itself, while smaller ones are those visible around the constellation. All the stars are carefully placed using stellar maps, so what you see on the icon should pretty closely resemble what you’d see irl if you can find Lyra.
Icon with stellar map overlaid

And Artebierre is just fun imo :) The name is a nod to Alcubierre drive, the fastest sci-fi-ish FTL drive (to get "to the moon"). Not completely sure about the nebula shape yet, and whether it should have more or less contrast in general.
A previous version and one other icon

Hello world. I'll be posting about #ArtemisApp from this instance. It has the new Kbin API, to help with testing the app :)

Also the compact mode is now back to being actually compact.

I use kbin.social and readit.buzz. I like kbin better because it loads faster, but it keeps logging me out. Readit never does that, but it’s slower. Is there a way to stop kbin from logging me out all the time?

Overall no problems found yet. This will be rather useful for faster testing, along with tablet UI testing later on.

Or at least make it a toggle. I don’t think this is what the people who wanted a card style view were after, and it’s way more frustrating for people who like a very dense feed.

Pardon me if this should go into @artemisquiver, but it'd be lovely if I could toggle a switch and make any posts I've voted on go away.

Any timeframe for a full screen picture mode for the home page bwrosing? This is the one thing that I really need to use Artemis properly. The compact view mode just doesn’t work for me (not Artemis compact mode in particular, just compact mode in general)

Artemis might use a swipe gesture to visually hint at the relation between upvoting and boosting, as shown in the main animation. Here's a static app mockup with both swipe levels displayed. I'd also imagine that there should be a setting that auto-upvotes posts when boosting.

LET'S GO

Just a preview of what's cooking for the next update for testers.

We'll be adding a new wave of testers when all this is done in a few days :)

For those who Discord is not their cup of tea 😉