Alexandrite

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Alexandrite is a desktop-first alternative Lemmy client.

Find a bug or have a feature request? Create an issue on Github, or post here.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
1
 
 

It took me way too long to get around to this, but with the release of Lemmy 0.19.0 I finally added support for how auth is done differently now. Everything should work the same, but you'll now be able to use Alexandrite again on 0.19.0 servers.

There are some more features that 0.19.0 added, I'll be adding those later, just wanted to make sure things still work first!

If you're self hosting Alexandrite, the docker image probably won't be available for another hour or so after this is posted, the build takes a while! The main Alexandrite site is already updated though!

2
 
 

It took me way too long to get around to this, but with the release of Lemmy 0.19.0 I finally added support for how auth is done differently now. Everything should work the same, but you'll now be able to use Alexandrite again on 0.19.0 servers.

There are some more features that 0.19.0 added, I'll be adding those later, just wanted to make sure things still work first!

If you're self hosting Alexandrite, the docker image probably won't be available for another hour or so after this is posted, the build takes a while! The main Alexandrite site is already updated though!

3
 
 

At the moment, it's difficult to go to a community based on its link. For example, if I paste https://programming.dev/c/game_design into the search box, it shows some search results that mention that community, but no way to actually get there. I think the link to the community should appear prominently in the search results, or, even better, if you search for a community link, it should directly take you to that community. In my example, it would take me to https://a.lemmy.world/programming.dev/c/game_design

4
 
 

At the moment, it's difficult to go to a community based on its link. For example, if I paste https://programming.dev/c/game_design into the search box, it shows some search results that mention that community, but no way to actually get there. I think the link to the community should appear prominently in the search results, or, even better, if you search for a community link, it should directly take you to that community. In my example, it would take me to https://a.lemmy.world/programming.dev/c/game_design

5
 
 

Hi :)

A small, not very important request, but at the moment if I want to edit the Sidebar of the Community I mod, I have to use the default UI to do so. Are there any plans to implement the edit button/link into the Alexandrite UI?

6
 
 

It would be great if there was an extra option under settings "Keep navigation sidebar open" that could hide the text and only showing the icons for subsciptions/settings etc. That would save a lot of space. Thanks for a awesome site!

https://i.imgur.com/RYLJbi5.png

7
 
 

It would be great if there was an extra option under settings "Keep navigation sidebar open" that could hide the text and only showing the icons for subsciptions/settings etc. That would save a lot of space. Thanks for a awesome site!

https://i.imgur.com/RYLJbi5.png

8
 
 

alexandrite.app - [email protected] - Github

Just a few things this time, the biggest is mod team management. You can now add and remove mods from the "..." menu on posts and comments. You can also find links to the modlog to see what actions have been taken against that user.

add mod button

You can also remove mods or leave the mod team of a community from inside the "Moderation" area of the sidebar (note: the "Modlog" link moved inside this section too as it's not useful to most people)

Alexandrite settings will now automatically update in every tab instantly, so if you change the theme in one tab, when you switch to another already open Alexandrite browser tab you'll notice it'll already be using your new theme.

When viewing reports, they will now be sorted by newest report first, instead of oldest post/comment first.

For the self hosters out there, Alexandrite should now have arm builds thanks to ismailkarsli on Github! (Thank you!) The image builds now take a little longer, and the build isn't quite done yet so you might have to wait a bit until it's available.

That's it for now. Next release will probably be Lemmy 0.19 support, and I believe I'll finally be able to add image uploading then too (it might be in the next release after 0.19 support).

Github release notes

9
 
 

alexandrite.app - [email protected] - Github

Just a few things this time, the biggest is mod team management. You can now add and remove mods from the "..." menu on posts and comments. You can also find links to the modlog to see what actions have been taken against that user.

add mod button

You can also remove mods or leave the mod team of a community from inside the "Moderation" area of the sidebar (note: the "Modlog" link moved inside this section too as it's not useful to most people)

Alexandrite settings will now automatically update in every tab instantly, so if you change the theme in one tab, when you switch to another already open Alexandrite browser tab you'll notice it'll already be using your new theme.

When viewing reports, they will now be sorted by newest report first, instead of oldest post/comment first.

For the self hosters out there, Alexandrite should now have arm builds thanks to ismailkarsli on Github! (Thank you!) The image builds now take a little longer, and the build isn't quite done yet so you might have to wait a bit until it's available.

That's it for now. Next release will probably be Lemmy 0.19 support, and I believe I'll finally be able to add image uploading then too (it might be in the next release after 0.19 support).

Github release notes

10
 
 

When navigating posts in the feed, the URL is changed to each active post. This means that when the page is reloaded, Alexandrite goes to that page instead of the active feed. In the above screenshot, I was browsing all, but refreshing the page left me on the post that was active.

Perhaps a fix might be to append the active post to the URL? Something like:

https://alex.lemmy.ca/lemmy.ca/all#post/5936117

11
 
 

When navigating posts in the feed, the URL is changed to each active post. This means that when the page is reloaded, Alexandrite goes to that page instead of the active feed. In the above screenshot, I was browsing all, but refreshing the page left me on the post that was active.

Perhaps a fix might be to append the active post to the URL? Something like:

https://alex.lemmy.ca/lemmy.ca/all#post/5936117

12
 
 

The linked post and discussion from the Photon dev re: the lemmy 0.19 release got me thinking about how Alexandrite will handle the migration since the release includes breaking changes.

@[email protected] thoughts?

13
 
 

The linked post and discussion from the Photon dev re: the lemmy 0.19 release got me thinking about how Alexandrite will handle the migration since the release includes breaking changes.

@[email protected] thoughts?

14
 
 

Am I misremembering or didn't there used to be a way to block users in Alexandrite...from their profile I think? I don't see a button for it now. I can block them in Eternity on mobile though.

15
 
 

While I appreciate being able to block individual communities, I feel like being able to block while instances would be really helpful.

16
 
 

While I appreciate being able to block individual communities, I feel like being able to block while instances would be really helpful.

17
 
 

I've been away on vacation but I'm back with a new release of Alexandrite!

The mod log is now implemented! At the moment you can see a community's modlog from the top of the community sidebar, and the instance modlog from the bottom of the instance sidebar (I'll likely change where these links are at some point). Now moderators should be able to do even more stuff without leaving Alexandrite.

modlog

Additionally there's a link to the modlog when viewing a user's profile (also in the sidebar), which lets you see the mod actions that have been performed on them. This should help moderators identify problematic users.

user modlog

In both cases, you will see a content warning screen before being redirected to the actual modlog, but you can disable this for either all communities or for the ones you moderate in the settings.

modlog content warning

Icons for NSFW communities will now be hidden unless you have "NSFW Thumbnails" set to "Show" in the settings. Previously it would just always show icons.

Moderators looking through reports will now see the post or comment's score (and vote breakdown on hover) so you can see at a glance what the community thought about something. Additionally it also shows how long ago a report was made.

report votes

Then just some random improvements. The community header's buttons now collapse into a "..." menu if the screen isn't wide enough to fit them all, and the header at the top of the page is now darker (in dark mode) and lighter (in light mode) which I think looks a lot nicer.

I'll soon release 0.8.5, but that'll just be a quick bug fix, as I realized when writing this post that the "No" button on the modlog content warning doesn't redirect to the right place sometimes. Edit: Nevermind it was 0.8.7, still that's the only fix, I just kept messing up and releasing without the actual change.

18
 
 

I've been away on vacation but I'm back with a new release of Alexandrite!

The mod log is now implemented! At the moment you can see a community's modlog from the top of the community sidebar, and the instance modlog from the bottom of the instance sidebar (I'll likely change where these links are at some point). Now moderators should be able to do even more stuff without leaving Alexandrite.

modlog

Additionally there's a link to the modlog when viewing a user's profile (also in the sidebar), which lets you see the mod actions that have been performed on them. This should help moderators identify problematic users.

user modlog

In both cases, you will see a content warning screen before being redirected to the actual modlog, but you can disable this for either all communities or for the ones you moderate in the settings.

modlog content warning

Icons for NSFW communities will now be hidden unless you have "NSFW Thumbnails" set to "Show" in the settings. Previously it would just always show icons.

Moderators looking through reports will now see the post or comment's score (and vote breakdown on hover) so you can see at a glance what the community thought about something. Additionally it also shows how long ago a report was made.

report votes

Then just some random improvements. The community header's buttons now collapse into a "..." menu if the screen isn't wide enough to fit them all, and the header at the top of the page is now darker (in dark mode) and lighter (in light mode) which I think looks a lot nicer.

I'll soon release 0.8.5, but that'll just be a quick bug fix, as I realized when writing this post that the "No" button on the modlog content warning doesn't redirect to the right place sometimes. Edit: Nevermind it was 0.8.7, still that's the only fix, I just kept messing up and releasing without the actual change.

19
 
 

The site itself is up, but it says 'Network Error' when I try to access it through alexandrite.app

20
 
 

One of the interaction menu options (where "Cross-post / Send Message / Report Post / Block user / Block Community" live)
OR (preferably)
perhaps even one of the external buttons (next to Comment / Save / Original Post -OR- next to Upvote / Downvote)
should be the ability to either hide or collapse a given post so the things you've already seen take up less screen space
(but shouldn't be permanently lost to you so you can go back to something if you decide you want to look at it again)

Also, apologies if this is already suggested, I tried to search, and either it isn't there or the search function isn't very good.

21
 
 

Just some quick features!

When creating a post there's now a button to suggest a title based on the URL you entered. Just enter a URL then click "Suggest Title"

suggest title button

Then if you want to use that title hit the button!

title suggestion

You can create a post without first visiting the community by clicking the new "+" button in the header. The menu looks a little bit empty right now, but I'll add more stuff here later.

create menu

Also:

  • Added the ability to edit/delete/report private messages
  • Links to external sites in markdown now open in a new tab
  • If you have the "Keep navigation sidebar open" setting enabled, it will now open by default
22
 
 

Just some quick features!

When creating a post there's now a button to suggest a title based on the URL you entered. Just enter a URL then click "Suggest Title"

suggest title button

Then if you want to use that title hit the button!

title suggestion

You can create a post without first visiting the community by clicking the new "+" button in the header. The menu looks a little bit empty right now, but I'll add more stuff here later.

create menu

Also:

  • Added the ability to edit/delete/report private messages
  • Links to external sites in markdown now open in a new tab
  • If you have the "Keep navigation sidebar open" setting enabled, it will now open by default
23
 
 

I've been loving Alexandrite, it's my go-to recommendation for Lemmy on desktop. Keep up the great work!

24
 
 

Question for @[email protected]:

What's your preferred way to receive feature requests?

I see people making posts here, which is nice because it allows community discussion, but you also have a github issue tracker, which may be handier for you to actually follow up the request. I have some ideas I'd like to put forward, and I would like to use the way that's the least burdensome for you to manage.

25
 
 

Alexandrite now has cross-posting! You can cross post from the '...' menu on posts:

crosspost menu

You then pick a community from your subscriptions, or search for any other community, or directly enter the full name like [email protected] if you want a very specific one and don't want to bother with searching.

community selector

And links to cross-posts will now show when viewing a posts:

Alexandrite now matches Lemmy-UI handling taglines. If an instance has any taglines set it will now pick a random one instead of showing all of them.

taglines

Lastly if you have NSFW thumbnail handling set to "Hide" or "Blur", it will now hide/blur thumbnails when a post is in a NSFW community, even if the post itself isn't marked NSFW, as the post is probably actually NSFW anyway and it's better to be safe than sorry.

Github release notes

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