[Akkoma] - Enable AkkomaFE #790

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opened 2024-02-14 17:06:05 +01:00 by giarminio · 28 comments

Hello,
currently fe.disroot.org offers, as its only web frontend, Mangane, and although Mangane to me is very nice, readable, accessible and snappy, it has a lot of limitations, at the present time, compared to Akkoma's features, which are supported instead by AkkomaFE (the default Akkoma frontend) and other web frontends: it doesn't allow to do even basic things such as to set the default language for posts, to set it on individual posts, to enable the request for confirmation of follow requests, to put a "note to self" on other users' profiles, to easily check if a media attachment (image, audio, audio-video) has an alt-text description - which to me is important, since i avoid boosting posts with undescribed media attachments, because of this -, and it has no sound for notifications, plus a ton of other little but useful features that Akkoma has and AkkomaFE supports.

Another good web frontend for Akkoma is MastodonFE, that has a multi-column UI very similar to the "advanced UI" of Mastodon.

Some other users expressed similar wishes on fe.disroot.org in this thread.

Hello, currently [fe.disroot.org](https://fe.disroot.org) offers, as its only web frontend, Mangane, and although Mangane to me is very nice, readable, accessible and snappy, it has a lot of limitations, at the present time, compared to Akkoma's features, which are supported instead by [AkkomaFE](https://akkoma.dev/AkkomaGang/akkoma-fe) (the default Akkoma frontend) and other web frontends: it doesn't allow to do even basic things such as to set the default language for posts, to set it on individual posts, to enable the request for confirmation of follow requests, to put a "note to self" on other users' profiles, to easily check if a media attachment (image, audio, audio-video) has an alt-text description - which to me is important, since i avoid boosting posts with undescribed media attachments, because of [this](https://mastodon.help/#DescribingMedia) -, and it has no sound for notifications, plus a ton of other little but useful features that Akkoma has and AkkomaFE supports. Another good web frontend for Akkoma is [MastodonFE](https://akkoma.dev/AkkomaGang/masto-fe), that has a multi-column UI very similar to the "advanced UI" of Mastodon. Some other users expressed similar wishes on fe.disroot.org in [this thread](https://fe.disroot.org/@blitdev/posts/AesKpTnasL7Md2ayOW).
Author

As a side note: i've just tried out the Whalebird and Fedistar desktop clients, which do support Akkoma, but they lack so many features, even in comparison with Mangane.

There are probably some alternative web frontend instances too which may work, but i don't like the idea of my "not public" posts being readable by two server admins teams instead of one :))

So i definitely think fe.disroot.org would be much better if it gave AkkomaFE and-or MastodonFE too :)

As a side note: i've just tried out the Whalebird and Fedistar desktop clients, which do support Akkoma, but they lack so many features, even in comparison with Mangane. There are probably some alternative [web frontend instances too which may work](https://docs-develop.pleroma.social/backend/clients/), but i don't like the idea of my "not public" posts being readable by two server admins teams instead of one :)) So i definitely think fe.disroot.org would be much better if it gave AkkomaFE and-or MastodonFE too :)

I've been on Fedisroot just before it went live and have seen its iterations on the front end. Mangane is a pretty decent front end; it's clean, uncluttered, minimalist... I like that.

I think what the bulk of what you may be describing is backend functionality with access to those functions available via the frontend for use. I think the FE functionality could certainly be improved, though I would like to see Mangane remain, in and of itself. Please correct me if I'm way off. I could adapt to a new FE, though I have to say, "I don't really wanna." XD (being silly, there)

I've been on Fedisroot just before it went live and have seen its iterations on the front end. Mangane is a pretty decent front end; it's clean, uncluttered, minimalist... I like that. I *think* what the bulk of what you may be describing is backend functionality with access to those functions available via the frontend for use. I think the FE functionality could certainly be improved, though I would like to see Mangane remain, in and of itself. Please correct me if I'm way off. I could adapt to a new FE, though I have to say, "I don't really wanna." XD (being silly, there)
Author

I think what the bulk of what you may be describing is backend functionality with access to those functions available via the frontend for use.

No: as i've written (maybe not so clearly, but), Akkoma's backend already has or supports all those basic and less basic features that i cited, and many more, that Mangane doesn't currently support.

I think the FE functionality could certainly be improved, though I would like to see Mangane remain, in and of itself. Please correct me if I'm way off. I could adapt to a new FE, though I have to say, "I don't really wanna." XD (being silly, there)

Yes, as i've written: i'm not advocating for replacing Mangane, just for adding another web frontend next to it (my favorite is AkkomaFE), and maybe even one more, like MastodonFE. There are many Pleroma and Akkoma instances out there which offer two, three and more web frontends - but to me, AkkomaFE would suffice :))

> I *think* what the bulk of what you may be describing is backend functionality with access to those functions available via the frontend for use. No: as i've written (maybe not so clearly, but), Akkoma's backend already has or supports all those basic and less basic features that i cited, and many more, that Mangane doesn't currently support. > I think the FE functionality could certainly be improved, though I would like to see Mangane remain, in and of itself. Please correct me if I'm way off. I could adapt to a new FE, though I have to say, "I don't really wanna." XD (being silly, there) Yes, as i've written: i'm not advocating for *replacing* Mangane, just for *adding* another web frontend next to it (my favorite is AkkomaFE), and maybe even one more, like MastodonFE. There are many Pleroma and Akkoma instances out there which offer two, three and more web frontends - but to me, AkkomaFE would suffice :))
Owner

@giarminio Thanks for your report.
Initially we wanted to just setup one frontend to not make the onboarding too confusing. Since there is/was no easy way to switch between frontends other then running them on different subdomains, we decided to use Mangane as a default one. That being said we do intend to provide multiple frontends and AkkomaFE would be the first one to go. Since the start we personally were satisfied with Mangane and so were the users as noone requested other forntends (specially akkomafe), so we did not priorities on this.

February as far as work plan is full, so it is something to try to squeeze in March work.

@giarminio Thanks for your report. Initially we wanted to just setup one frontend to not make the onboarding too confusing. Since there is/was no easy way to switch between frontends other then running them on different subdomains, we decided to use Mangane as a default one. That being said we do intend to provide multiple frontends and AkkomaFE would be the first one to go. Since the start we personally were satisfied with Mangane and so were the users as noone requested other forntends (specially akkomafe), so we did not priorities on this. February as far as work plan is full, so it is something to try to squeeze in March work.
muppeth changed title from [Feature request] Please add AkkomaFE (or-and some other web frontend) to fe.disroot.org, because Mangane is cool but lacking so many (even basic) features to [Akkoma] - Enable AkkomaFE 2024-02-14 21:46:07 +01:00
muppeth added the
Feature request
Akkoma
labels 2024-02-14 21:46:21 +01:00
Author

February as far as work plan is full, so it is something to try to squeeze in March work.

Thank you so much :)

> February as far as work plan is full, so it is something to try to squeeze in March work. Thank you so much :)
Author

Are there any news? :)

Are there any news? :)

Are there any news? :)

Same question. Mangane is cute, but not brutal enough, so I'm still waiting.

> Are there any news? :) Same question. Mangane is cute, but not brutal enough, so I'm still waiting.

Any updates?

Any updates?
Owner

Haven't look into it yet. We wanted to finalize dpeloyment of staging server first. Now that this is done I will be pulling this issue into this month's work.

Haven't look into it yet. We wanted to finalize dpeloyment of staging server first. Now that this is done I will be pulling this issue into this month's work.
muppeth added this to the 24.06 - June milestone 2024-06-03 10:57:54 +02:00
Owner

I did spend some amount of time trying to hack akkomaFE to work but it introduces ton of issues. Since Mangane/Soapbox overwrites routes, in order to provide akkomaFE we need to manually rewrite them on the proxyserver side. It adds extra work which we have decided is not worth it. We are planning to add some other frontends, but as a team we have no interest in akkomaFe. If that's a dealbreaker, I suggest moving to the instance that does support it as I would not hold my breath to have it landing on disroot any time soon.
I am putting it on hold so there is no expectation of it ever getting done, but I wont close it because you never know when stars align and thing will just happen. Sorry to disapoint.

I did spend some amount of time trying to hack akkomaFE to work but it introduces ton of issues. Since Mangane/Soapbox overwrites routes, in order to provide akkomaFE we need to manually rewrite them on the proxyserver side. It adds extra work which we have decided is not worth it. We are planning to add some other frontends, but as a team we have no interest in akkomaFe. If that's a dealbreaker, I suggest moving to the instance that does support it as I would not hold my breath to have it landing on disroot any time soon. I am putting it on hold so there is no expectation of it ever getting done, but I wont close it because you never know when stars align and thing will just happen. Sorry to disapoint.
muppeth added
wontfix
on hold
low prio
and removed
Feature request
labels 2024-07-08 23:06:16 +02:00
muppeth removed this from the 24.06 - June milestone 2024-07-08 23:25:35 +02:00
Owner

@muppeth as we have it on staging, any reason why we don't provide it on prod?

@muppeth as we have it on staging, any reason why we don't provide it on prod?
Owner

Yes. The problem is the same since the beginning of the ticket. On staging we have the akkomafe set as default and others as subdomains. On production we have mangane set as default which makes it not so easy to do it the other way around. As mentioned in my previous post, I tried to do redirects manually to make it work but that's a very hacky way of going about it.
So unless we go with the same setup as on staging where akkomafe is default (so served from https://fe.disroot.org) and other frontends (like mangane run from a different subdomain like https://fe2.disroot.org), it's impossible at this moment.

So @Disroot/Owners here is a proposal to solve this:

We change setup and serve AkkomaFE as a default frontend, and serve other frontends like Mangane from different URLs (eg. https://social.disroot.org). Additionally we could add links to other forntends on the sidebar or akkomaFE and Managane. This will solve the issue, but will serve less desirable frontend as default. Unless of course we link to Manage (or other) frontend from the website etc (so treat https://social.disroot.org as main link to akkoma). The con of this solution is the fact it might be a bit confusing for people when they arrive to akkomaFE expectic Mangane.
Actions:

Please let me know what do you think about this proposal.

Yes. The problem is the same since the beginning of the ticket. On staging we have the akkomafe set as default and others as subdomains. On production we have mangane set as default which makes it not so easy to do it the other way around. As mentioned in my previous post, I tried to do redirects manually to make it work but that's a very hacky way of going about it. So unless we go with the same setup as on staging where akkomafe is default (so served from https://fe.disroot.org) and other frontends (like mangane run from a different subdomain like https://fe2.disroot.org), it's impossible at this moment. So @Disroot/Owners here is a proposal to solve this: We change setup and serve AkkomaFE as a default frontend, and serve other frontends like Mangane from different URLs (eg. https://social.disroot.org). Additionally we could add links to other forntends on the sidebar or akkomaFE and Managane. This will solve the issue, but will serve less desirable frontend as default. Unless of course we link to Manage (or other) frontend from the website etc (so treat https://social.disroot.org as main link to akkoma). The con of this solution is the fact it might be a bit confusing for people when they arrive to akkomaFE expectic Mangane. Actions: - serve AkkomaFE from https://fe.disroot.org - serve Manage from https://social.disroot.org (or different tbd by the team) - Change all the links on the website to Manage frontend instead of https://fe.disroot.org - Send infomation about it in newsletter Please let me know what do you think about this proposal.
Owner

I'd go for the same setup as on staging then, with AkkomaFE as a default frontend.
Though, imo, instead of social.disroot.org I would go for mangane.disroot.org, coz it will be easier to remember what frontend is at what address.

I'd go for the same setup as on staging then, with AkkomaFE as a default frontend. Though, imo, instead of social.disroot.org I would go for mangane.disroot.org, coz it will be easier to remember what frontend is at what address.
Owner

I disagree with that tbh. My thought process of proposing social.disroot.org (or similar) was to make it easy for people who have no clue about frontends and all that stuff to find and remember the url. Also thought that this generic url eg. social.disroot.org could be used in case we decide to change the default frontend in the future. More advanced users (so those who want to shop around for frontends) will certainly remember the name so we could use whateverFE.disroot.org but for the avarage non-techy I would just use something that is familiar and easier to remember.

The additional problem with the proposal is possible confusion where people will try to use @username@social.disroot.org instead of @usrname@fe.disroot.org but perhaps this isn't as big of an issue as I might think cause search does autocomplete and is good in finding, and you see your federated name in the profile. But it's something to take in consideration nonetheless.

I disagree with that tbh. My thought process of proposing social.disroot.org (or similar) was to make it easy for people who have no clue about frontends and all that stuff to find and remember the url. Also thought that this generic url eg. social.disroot.org could be used in case we decide to change the default frontend in the future. More advanced users (so those who want to shop around for frontends) will certainly remember the name so we could use whateverFE.disroot.org but for the avarage non-techy I would just use something that is familiar and easier to remember. The additional problem with the proposal is possible confusion where people will try to use @username@social.disroot.org instead of @usrname@fe.disroot.org but perhaps this isn't as big of an issue as I might think cause search does autocomplete and is good in finding, and you see your federated name in the profile. But it's something to take in consideration nonetheless.
Owner

So, How do we move with this now? Do we want to switch the frontend setup just like we have now on staging where akkomafe is the main one and others live in the subdomains, or do we want to keep it the way we have now and not provide akkomafe due to the limitation we have and close the ticket.

@Disroot/Owners @giarminio @Shadowstreik @blit

So, How do we move with this now? Do we want to switch the frontend setup just like we have now on staging where akkomafe is the main one and others live in the subdomains, or do we want to keep it the way we have now and not provide akkomafe due to the limitation we have and close the ticket. @Disroot/Owners @giarminio @Shadowstreik @blit
muppeth added this to the Currently working on milestone 2025-03-03 10:00:43 +01:00

So, How do we move with this now? Do we want to switch the frontend setup just like we have now on staging where akkomafe is the main one and others live in the subdomains, or do we want to keep it the way we have now and not provide akkomafe due to the limitation we have and close the ticket?

I support the first option.

> So, How do we move with this now? Do we want to switch the frontend setup just like we have now on staging where akkomafe is the main one and others live in the subdomains, or do we want to keep it the way we have now and not provide akkomafe due to the limitation we have and close the ticket? I support the first option.
Owner

It is hard for me to support any solution in particular: I almost use 100% the app on my phone only, barely use the frontend. I prefer mangane, coz I find it looks better. But I don't use a lot of options so perhaps in this regard akkomafe would be better?

So as usual, it all depends on our users: do you think that people would go better for mangane or akkomafe ? If it is mangane, then we keep your second suggestion, if it is akkomafe then we go for the 1st solution.

Sorry, my opinion is not that helpful :)

It is hard for me to support any solution in particular: I almost use 100% the app on my phone only, barely use the frontend. I prefer mangane, coz I find it looks better. But I don't use a lot of options so perhaps in this regard akkomafe would be better? So as usual, it all depends on our users: do you think that people would go better for mangane or akkomafe ? If it is mangane, then we keep your second suggestion, if it is akkomafe then we go for the 1st solution. Sorry, my opinion is not that helpful :)
Owner

@meaz perhaps we create a poll on fedi asking disrooters to state their opinion?

@meaz perhaps we create a poll on fedi asking disrooters to state their opinion?
Owner

A poll might be a good start. As meaz I find it hard to form a real opinion about these options.

A poll might be a good start. As meaz I find it hard to form a real opinion about these options.
Owner

The poll is a good idea

The poll is a good idea

I agree with the poll idea

I agree with the poll idea
Owner

Hi, everyone. Is not clear to me why AkkomaFE should be the main frontend at fe.disroot.
I do understand the thing with subdomains and so, but I don't agree on AkkomaFE being the main frontend at the fe domain.

Hi, everyone. Is not clear to me why AkkomaFE should be the main frontend at fe.disroot. I do understand the thing with subdomains and so, but I don't agree on AkkomaFE being the main frontend at the fe domain.
Owner

@fede That's the only way to provide akkomaFE. Do I understand correctly you object to that solution?

@fede That's the only way to provide akkomaFE. Do I understand correctly you object to that solution?
Owner

Yes, you got it right. We could make a poll anyway.

Yes, you got it right. We could make a poll anyway.
Owner

Following the consensus based decision making we should identify and address the objection from @fede
@fede could you explain the reasoning behind your objections so that we can work out a consensus?

Following the consensus based decision making we should identify and address the objection from @fede @fede could you explain the reasoning behind your objections so that we can work out a consensus?
muppeth added
Discussion
and removed
wontfix
labels 2025-03-20 16:55:58 +01:00
muppeth added the
🙌 Decission needed
label 2025-03-20 16:59:45 +01:00
Owner

Not much to explain really, it's just a subjective matter, I don't like the Akkoma-FE frontend. But if it has something our current frontend doesn't, like a useful feature, then maybe I would think about to change it.

Not much to explain really, it's just a subjective matter, I don't like the Akkoma-FE frontend. But if it has something our current frontend doesn't, like a useful feature, then maybe I would think about to change it.
Owner

I do share your opinion though. I find akkomaFE not that interesting frontend. I acutally use Mangane on the phone also. The only thing for me is that it would be nice to provide all options for people. Seems like going the route of akkomafe being the main frontend is the way forward.
@fede do you mind checking with the community then in form of poll? If so (you do have the right to block this right away just fyi), i would propose we use nextcloud's polls as we can only allow disroot users to fill it in to avoid noise from non-disroot accounts.
I would ask two questions:

  1. Do you want AkkomaFE (link to screenshot or project) to be the main frontend for https://fe.disroot.org and Current main Mandange to be hosted as seperate frontend at https://social.disroot.org (or whatever name we want to give it)
  2. Which other frontends would you like us to provide:
  • Mangane
  • AkkomaFE
  • MastoFE
  • Elk
  • PL-FE
    (add more if needed).
I do share your opinion though. I find akkomaFE not that interesting frontend. I acutally use Mangane on the phone also. The only thing for me is that it would be nice to provide all options for people. Seems like going the route of akkomafe being the main frontend is the way forward. @fede do you mind checking with the community then in form of poll? If so (you do have the right to block this right away just fyi), i would propose we use nextcloud's polls as we can only allow disroot users to fill it in to avoid noise from non-disroot accounts. I would ask two questions: 1. Do you want AkkomaFE (link to screenshot or project) to be the main frontend for https://fe.disroot.org and Current main Mandange to be hosted as seperate frontend at https://social.disroot.org (or whatever name we want to give it) 2. Which other frontends would you like us to provide: - Mangane - AkkomaFE - MastoFE - Elk - PL-FE (add more if needed).
Owner

I also love the idea of provide different frontends, but not a bit the option of changing the address to use our current one.
I'll use NC poll then to check with the community.

I also love the idea of provide different frontends, but not a bit the option of changing the address to use our current one. I'll use NC poll then to check with the community.
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Reference: Disroot/Disroot-Project#790
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