So an interesting change is coming to Mastodon embeds.
Previously, the embed code consisted of an iframe, going forward, this is being switched to a blockquote.
In either case, the original text of the post is not included and is rather added after the main page the embed is on is loaded.
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/31766
#mastodon #embeds #fediverse
There are definitely benefits of moving away from iframes, as I've discussed on my blog.
https://stefanbohacek.com/project/wordpress-plugin-for-fediverse-embeds/
Also, an important side note, if you're using my Fediverse Embeds WordPress plugin, it will not work with this latest format. I will work on an update...hopefully over this weekend.
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online Oooo interesting! Thanks for this!
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online
I've had to "clean up" several WordPress sites that got highjacked by iframe viruses.
Okay, looking at the new embed code more closely, this is...something else.
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online what will happen with previously embedded posts? They'll contain the "old code" with an iframe.
@cybeardjm@masto.ai Any existing embeds will continue to work, including from mastodon.social.
Basically, the plugin will check for the server and post ID from the iframe, and then fetches the status.
Updating the plugin to work with blockquotes should be fairly straightforward, I just need to find the time.
Will keep you posted!
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online thx
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online It's for the next release I think, 4.3 or so...
Yeah, wouldn't like to redo all my embeds... Yes I have many ;-)
@cybeardjm@masto.ai Yeah, you definitely won't have to do that, the issue is more with wanting to embed posts from any servers running this version of Mastodon.
You will only get the blockquote HTML code, while the plugin looks for iframes, so it just won't do anything.
@cybeardjm@masto.ai Alright, I just went ahead and made the necessary update, it didn't require too much effort.
Let me know once you update the plugin!
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online Old embeds still work ;-)
@cybeardjm@masto.ai Great! Did you also try the new embed, something from mastodon.social?
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online Nope. If I find a post, I'll test.
@cybeardjm@masto.ai Thank you! No rush. It should work and look exactly the same way as with iframes.
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online Anyway, will have to wait for it to work.
My instance is still 4.2.10, so it doesn't seem to work well...
@cybeardjm@masto.ai Oh that's interesting, I am able to replicate this as well.
I added a note to https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/31766#issuecomment-2351041692.
cc @andypiper@macaw.social
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online @cybeardjm@masto.ai it should still work with the old-style iframe code but with the post URL substituted in (on the Wordpress side)
@andypiper @cybeardjm Right, but this is an issue with the UI, the embed code is missing, see the screenshot I added to the GitHub issue.
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online @cybeardjm@masto.ai 👀 thanks for submitting!
@andypiper@macaw.social @cybeardjm@masto.ai No problem!
For comparison, the previous (and on most Mastodon servers, the current) version looked like this.
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online it seems presumptive to my old webdev mind to assume all places that allow embeds will allow external js.
Also, seriously, do you expect me to backdoor my own site??
That looked like a Zip Disk to me, but I checked a reference photo and I was wrong.
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online that's interesting I the sense of "what were you thinking?" putting the text in the statically served blockquote is job 0.
https://www.kevinmarks.com/twittereditsyou
@KevinMarks@xoxo.zone Yeah, I think I will withhold any criticism of that, for now.
The topic of quoting people's public social media posts is pretty fascinating to me, and my thoughts might be better expressed in a blog post rather than a series of posts on here. (Especially knowing that some might feel pretty strongly about this topic.)
There is so much to consider, from people's expectations, societal norms, and the technical aspects as well.