gromdroid

📣 Hey Lemma Community! Your Voice Matters! 📣

I'm thrilled to announce that I'm in the final stages of rewriting Lemma to make it faster, more efficient, and more feature-rich than ever before. But I'm not stopping there! I want to hear from YOU, the incredible Lemma community, about what settings and features you'd like to see in the upcoming update.

🚀 What's coming in the update?

Performance Boost: I'm revamping the app's core to make it lightning-fast and super responsive. Say goodbye to lag and hello to seamless browsing.

Improved Error Logging: I'm taking error reporting seriously. I want to ensure that any glitches or issues are logged and addressed promptly to enhance your overall experience.

New Settings: I'm introducing a bunch of new settings to give you more control over your app experience. But here's the exciting part—I want your input!

🤔 What settings do YOU want to see?

Now's your chance to shape the future of our app! Share your ideas, big or small, on the settings and features you'd like to have. Whether it's enhancing privacy, customizing your feed, or adding a special feature you've always dreamed of, we're all ears.

💬 How to Share Your Ideas

1. Read through the Upcoming Settings comment I left under the post, to see if you're idea is already being implemented
2. If you're idea isn't on the list yet, drop a comment on this post with your suggestions

🙏 Your Feedback Matters

I can't stress enough how much I value your feedback. Your insights and ideas have been instrumental in shaping Lemma, and I'm committed to continuing this journey together.

Let's make Lemma even more amazing, together! 🚀

Thank you for being a part of our incredible community. Stay tuned for more updates, and keep those brilliant ideas coming!

Welcome to Lemma - Your New Favourite App!

I’m thrilled to introduce the very first public release of Lemma on TestFlight. Get ready to experience a whole new level of browsing the fediverse!

🌟 Key Features 🌟

• Super-charged Media Viewer
• Powerful Markdown Editor
• Effective Search

🔥 Why You'll Love Lemma 🔥

• Fully Customisable
• Swipe Gestures
• Multiple Accounts
• Cross-post Support
• Share as Image
• ‘Open in Lemma’ Safari Extension
• Private messaging

📣 Join The Community 📣

I would love to hear from you! Join our growing community of users to share your feedback, ideas, and suggestions. Together, we'll make Lemma even better.

💡 How to Get Started 💡

1. Download TestFlight from the App Store if you haven't already.
2. Follow this link to find Lemma in TestFlight.
3. Tap the "Install" button to get early access to Lemma.
4. Explore the app, try out its features, and let me know what you think.

🤝 Feedback & Support 🤝

Your feedback is invaluable to me. If you encounter any issues, have suggestions, or just want to say hello, please reach out to the Lemma community ([email protected]). Thank you for being a part of our journey. Together, we'll shape the future of Lemma. Get ready to experience something amazing!

🍺 Buy Me a Beer 🍺

I’m building Lemma as a side project in my free time. If you’re enjoying Lemma and would like to say an extra thank you, you can buy me a beer ❤️

📌 Note: This is a TestFlight release, so your feedback will help me fine-tune the app for its official launch.

Welcome to Lemma - Your New Favourite App!

I’m thrilled to introduce the very first public release of Lemma on TestFlight. Get ready to experience a whole new level of browsing the fediverse!

🌟 Key Features 🌟

• Super-charged Media Viewer
• Powerful Markdown Editor
• Effective Search

🔥 Why You'll Love Lemma 🔥

• Fully Customisable
• Swipe Gestures
• Multiple Accounts
• Cross-post Support
• Share as Image
• ‘Open in Lemma’ Safari Extension
• Private messaging

📣 Join The Community 📣

I would love to hear from you! Join our growing community of users to share your feedback, ideas, and suggestions. Together, we'll make Lemma even better.

💡 How to Get Started 💡

1. Download TestFlight from the App Store if you haven't already.
2. Follow this link to find Lemma in TestFlight.
3. Tap the "Install" button to get early access to Lemma.
4. Explore the app, try out its features, and let me know what you think.

🤝 Feedback & Support 🤝

Your feedback is invaluable to me. If you encounter any issues, have suggestions, or just want to say hello, please reach out to the Lemma community ([email protected]). Thank you for being a part of our journey. Together, we'll shape the future of Lemma. Get ready to experience something amazing!

🍺 Buy Me a Beer 🍺

I’m building Lemma as a side project in my free time. If you’re enjoying Lemma and would like to say an extra thank you, you can buy me a beer ❤️

📌 Note: This is a TestFlight release, so your feedback will help me fine-tune the app for its official launch.

🚀 Introducing Commenting Feature! 🚀

I'm thrilled to present the latest update to Lemma that brings an exciting new feature to your fingertips - commenting! I've been hard at work, and now it's time for you to be a part of our testing phase.

✏️ Markdown Editor: Say goodbye to plain text comments. With the sleek new markdown editor, your comments will stand out like never before. Format your text with ease, add links, insert images, and even gifs – all in a snap!

📣 Engage with Your Community: Now, you can participate in discussions and share your thoughts directly within the app. Your feedback matters, and I can't wait to hear what you have to say.

🔍 Help Me Improve: I want your input! Test the commenting feature thoroughly, and let me know about any bugs, suggestions, or improvements you'd like to see. Together, we can make Lemma even better.

👥 Connect with Others: Join the conversation, interact with fellow users, and build a sense of community within the app. Your comments can make a difference!

🔮 Upcoming: While we're busy testing the markdown editor with the new comment feature, I've also started working on adding the ability to create posts. I'm aiming to have it ready by the weekend, which I think will be the perfect time to invite everyone to join the public TestFlight as well!

Thank you for being a valuable part of the Lemma community. Your feedback helps Lemma grow and deliver an outstanding user experience. Let's make this commenting feature shine together!

Edit after v0.0.4 release:

I typically only share these types of updates after they have been approved by Apple. However, I am making this post now to prevent people from mentioning bugs for which a fix is already on its way. Many thanks to those who were quick and helpful in catching some of these bugs!

Fixed/Added:

• You can now add images to comments again.
• In addition to swiping, I have also added the reply option to the comment menu.
• You can now also edit and delete comments.
• Comments now indicate if they have been edited.
• Swiping on compact posts will now also bring up the reply modal.
• Spoilers are now rendered correctly.
• An overview of private messages has been added to the inbox screen.

Fingers crossed – you might see the update with fixes tomorrow! 🚀

Good. Well, as you can see on your program... first up is a speech called, "Don't Just Dream it, do it." Yes! Please give a big hand to Mr. Kevin Malone. [plays Ozzy Osboure's Crazy Train] These are just my dirty old gardening clothes. They were all that I had in my car. That-

Hey everyone! It's been a while since the last update, mainly because I've been diving deep into working on the markdown editor. I'm aiming to roll it out this weekend, but in the meantime, I wanted to give you a sneak peek (check out the attached video!) and share some of the behind-the-scenes reasons why this update is taking a bit longer.

I've had a few folks asking how Lemma was built, especially in terms of the language or framework used. In my regular gig, I'm a frontend developer specializing in React and React Native. So, it was a no-brainer for me to build Lemma using React Native. I'm actually pretty stoked about how native Lemma feels on iOS, even though it's not developed with Swift. It's mostly because I went all out to recreate the Apple Design Guidelines down to the tiniest pixel. I hunted down Figma designs of various iOS elements to get a solid reference for element sizes and padding between them.

Now, why's the markdown editor giving me more work? To really nail that genuine native feel, I've been crafting some native modules that I'm connecting to my React Native app. This includes things like the action sheet that pops up when you tap certain action bar items, and even that little pencil notification that shows up when you join a community. It's been a totally new experience for me building these modules; I'd never even touched Swift before this. So far, they've been quite manageable, mostly acting as wrappers around existing iOS elements or Swift libraries.

As you've probably guessed by now, the new markdown editor is also coded in Swift, specifically using SwiftUI. There aren't a ton of guides out there on how to blend SwiftUI into a React Native app, so this journey has been both tough and intriguing. Before I move on, big shoutout to Kyle Nazario, who put together the underlying SwiftUI library. This library does most of the heavy lifting for the inline markdown rendering, but it still needs to communicate with the React Native code. I've been wrestling with a challenge for example: keeping the selected text or cursor in the right spot after the text changes due to hitting a markdown button (because these buttons are React Native views). Normally, all these events and functions come built-in with the standard React Native TextInput, but now I'm dealing with a completely separate SwiftUI input on the native side, so I'm bridging all these functions myself.

It's been quite the journey, and I'm soaking up a ton from it. I'm already pretty stoked with where things are at now. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I could bring this markdown editor that's been bouncing around in my head to life. I hope you all are as amped about this upcoming feature as I am. However, I hope you guys still have a touch more patience because there are still a few pesky bugs I'm aiming to squash this week.

One more thing, let's chat about the current TestFlight situation. Big thanks to everyone testing out the private beta; your support means a lot. I'm aware that some folks didn't get the initial invite, and I hear you. Here's what I'm thinking for the near future:

• Drop the new markdown editor, complete with the ability to post comments.
• Push out a version that lets you craft new posts as well.
• Open up Lemma to the public once the new markdown editor proves its stability in the closed beta TestFlight! 🥳

This time, I'm sharing a bit more technical stuff, but I thought you might dig these behind-the-scenes updates too. I'm super excited to hear what you all think of the new markdown editor. I'll keep you posted as soon as it's good to go!

Hey everyone! I'm back from my vacation, and I brought some goodies with me. My trip was a blast — I saw cool stuff and met some new people. It was also awesome to take a break from the digital world before I dive into my new job next week.

The feedback I got so far has been really encouraging. So, I rolled up my sleeves today and got to work on fixing those pesky bugs you all found. Plus, I've added some cool new stuff to make the whole experience even better. Remember, I've had some time between jobs in which I've been tinkering away on Lemma. Starting a new gig next week doesn't mean I'm abandoning Lemma though. I love working on this app, and your fantastic feedback just fuels my motivation to keep making it even more awesome, it might simply mean that some updates might take a bit longer then you’d hope. If you're curious about future plans, keep on reading!

What's New?

• feat - added 2FA support
• feat - new profile switcher, which now shows your instance and avatar as well
• feat - remove markdown from post titles and body previews
• feat - remove duplicate cross posts (needs more testing)
  • similar to how the official Lemmy UI does it
• feat - searching for posts, communities and users now actually works
• feat - opening a comment from your inbox now marks it as read
• feat - ‘Mark all as Read’ button actually works now in your inbox
• feat - support for better Lemmy link recognition (for example [email protected])
• feat - support for more markdown types
  • tables are now horizontally scrollable, still WIP but seems to work better
• fix - clicking images in compact posts opens the image viewer correctly
• fix - show video in compact posts
• fix - keep playing video’s when opening in fullscreen
• fix - “View All Comments” button actually shows all comments now
• fix - cancelled swipe actions don’t trigger action anymore
• fix - score is now properly calculated after voting
• fix - correctly load posts when viewing a community, before this release Lemma got stuck sometimes on 5 posts until you did a ‘pull to refresh’
• misc - change post size label to “compact” in settings
• misc - updated profile scores

Coming Soon!

I've got a bunch of ideas for the next update, and I'll spill the beans on a few below so you can get excited. But I'm also dying to know — what features do you think are still missing in Lemma?

Posting Power

The big-ticket item everyone's been waiting for is the ability to create new posts and drop comments. Let's be honest, without these, Lemmy isn't all it can be. You might be wondering why this hasn't been part of the app from the get-go. Well, I wanted to do it right, not just easy. Check out this sneak peek below for a little taste of how I'm envisioning the editor:

Sharing Is Caring

As Lemmy's content grows, I've noticed a bit of repetition in my feed. But guess what? Lemmy's been on it! They've made cross-posting smoother, so you won't see the same thing over and over. In this update, I've already incorporated their new filtering trick, showing only the original post in your feed. And in the next update, I'm going to jazz up how you can check out cross-posted versions of a post.

Media Magic

Time to give GIFs some extra love in the media viewer. Right now, they're always playing, and that can sometimes slow things down. My mission? Make GIFs play more like videos. I might even dive into making GIFs rewind and fast-forward (no promises though, it's a tricky one).

Oh, and there's more! I'm revamping the media viewer for pictures too. Think smoother full-screen transitions and handy actions for a better overall experience.

Oops, Something's Not Right

Let's talk about those error messages. They're a bit basic right now. And that's not cool for you or me. So, in the next update, I'm on a mission to make error messages more user-friendly. You'll know exactly why something's acting up, and it'll also help me track down issues faster based on your bug reports.

Big thanks for all the support. Let's keep the Lemma vibe going strong as we jazz it up together!