TLDR: Customized a browser as dedicated Fediverse front-end, use existing web clients for per-service UI, manage account/password with password manager, and merge the notifications from multiple services into one inbox? Is this possible/good?
Hello all,
It's me, an eager fediverse adopter who wants all their friends to get onboard and craves an all-in-one solution for federated content, but who knows no code and barely enough IT to get by reading git documentation.
I'll start by saying that one thing is clear, diversity and experimentation is the essence and benefit of the Fediverse concept. To me, new and exciting ways to use ActivityPub (and other distributed social/comms protocols) get me thrilled and ready for more. The challenge I, and I'm sure many adopters face is the challenge as old as the internet: platform fatigue.
While I want to use all the amazing services the Fediverse offers, managing clients and accounts for each one, and specifically the notification streams coming from all of them, often feels burdensome, decreasing my engagement.
So here's a simple thought experiment I've been playing with: what is the simplest, lowest friction method of accessing and managing multiple notification/content streams without needing to consolidate or centralize client/server development across multiple projects? And further more, how can this set of notifications (and subsequent content interaction) be consolidated yet separated from the other non-fediverse notifications/content across multiple devices?
My naive user mind has pointed me in the direction of dedicated browser instances with customized UI. When I have a webapp I need rapid access to and notifications from I install a dedicated browser instance (or "app" in Edge speak, I know, booo). This works well for me, and in some cases uses less memory than a dedicated application for some reason (looking at you Discord).
So what if a customized browser could be built off of an existing project (probably going to have to be Firefox based, though all eyes on Ladybird), that has a built in password/account manager, and pulls the notification streams from all of the services those accounts interact with into a merged list. Then add filter options for that list including service, account, media type, etc.
All interactions with notifications pulls up a tab of a webclient the user designates for that service, ideally reusing the same single tab unless the user specifically selects open new tab. Each designated service appears on the toolbar as a bookmark, showing notification number beside it. Total notifications and the shortcut to the unified notifications service/Inbox lives on the left or right side of the toolbar and is emphasized.
And that's it, everything Fediverse under one hood, separate from the main browser, not scattered across multiple installed applications, and with each client self-updating.
The challenge? Of course it is merging all the notification streams. Based on what I know of ActivityPub this seems achievable, but the details are beyond me. I am reminded of RSS emerging as the means of addressing a very similar challenge with the emergence of blogs, perhaps an ActivityPub to RSS gateway/bridge could even be the solution to merge the notification streams and then off the shelf RSS reader extensions could serve for the master notification inbox.
I am also reminded of my beloved Trillian which merged IM services under a single application hood, but faced an ever stacking development load as each service changed. Glad to see they still exist, but it seems like the browser route could avoid that centralized dev burden.
Thoughts from more experienced minds than I? Does this make any sense?
Thanks, this is definitely the direction I was imagining, though it takes the tac of trying to be a primary browser with Fediverse features, rather than a Fediverse dedicated browser instance, so they will be forced to sacrifice UI streamlining for website-centric UI.
What don't you like about the idea of you dont mind explaining?
I would like to use a single account for everything, rather than separate accounts for different kinds of content. A server that works like super-app.
Yes, we all want that for sure, and I'm definitely not convinced the ATProtocol solution is it.
Ever hear of Solid by Tim Berners-Lee? It was an early approach to this single account for private data concept, seems like it might still be in development these many years later? https://solidproject.org/
I think Solid had some interesting ideas, but was ruined by Linked Data.
ActivityPub has a chance of evolving into something like Solid, but better.
Actually, I am already using a single account for interacting with most Fediverse apps. Aren't you on Mbin? I thought it also can interact with blogs, forums and everything in between
I use mbin for threads and microblogs, but it is missing some multimedia support. Someone told me that it can follow peertube accounts, but it only populates text, so I'm going to check that out next. Maybe it will evolve/build steam fast enough to really become the does-it-all platform with tons of devs putting in the necessary work, but right now I don't think it qualifies.
As a side note, what I'm talking about would be an alternative approach for a specific reason, dedicated UIs for specific content streams can be chosen by the user rather than baked in to the platform. For some people, this modular approach is going to be better.