lFenix

joined 3 years ago
[–] lFenix@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’m not using a VPN or anything and it got my location wrong by 700 kilometers 🤔

 

I will no longer be working on Mlem.

I started it a year and a half ago when I needed to take my mind off pain from surgery. And I always intended it to be a personal protect that would help me relax.

With the current development of the app, I no longer find being a part of the project relaxing or fun.

I’m not doing any coding anymore, since it’s all done by much more talented and experienced people. If I tried to contribute to my app now, as an outsider, I would be rejected. I’m also not doing much project management. I feel like I don’t have much voice in the development anymore.

I’m also getting backlash for trying to make the app accessible to the average person as opposed to just tech nerds, and it’s not worth the stress. This is happening mostly in my DMs (the other developers are not doing this, so please don’t go after them. They are very nice and would never do this), since some elements of this and Mastodon community don’t have the balls to face me in public.

These are just some of the many reasons I found working on the app for the last few weeks frustrating. Ever since the app exploded in popularity and the community grew, I can say that even thinking about working on Mlem made me instantly angry, annoyed and just overall pissed off.

It’s just not worth it anymore.

The current TestFlight version will keep working for two more days, after which I will erase the app from the App Store. Until then, someone from the team will have given you a new link. I have also transferred the app’s source code to a new owner.

I have released a new version just before posting this, and it’s the last version I have any influence on. The community will continue working on the app.

I will focus on my other apps, which will hopefully not become like Mlem.

Enjoy life, and don’t try to contact me.

[–] lFenix@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Thank you for the point about the length of development. I essentially started Mlem a year a half ago as my very first iOS project to take my mind off the pain from a major surgery I had the the time, then it sat abandoned until I revived it just a little over month ago. So the total dev time on Mlem is only around a month and a half. It’s still a little baby 😊

[–] lFenix@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, there is https://matrix.to/#/#MlemApp:matrix.org. Looking forward to seeing you there! Feel free to ping me: @buresdv:matrix.org

 

After much work, I have migrated Mlem to the REST API. Goodbye, deprecated WebSockets! Mlem is now ready for the future.

 

🥵😩

1
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by lFenix@lemmy.ml to c/mlemapp@lemmy.ml
 

Just wanted to give a little heads-up, the newest version no longer supports v1 of the API; this means that Hexbear is, for now, no longer accessible through Mlem.

Luckily, Hexbear will migrate to the newest API version in the future, so just give it some time.

 
  • Fixed crashing when tapping on the "Welcome Reddit refugees" post once and for all (hopefully)! Thanks to https://github.com/mormaer
  • Voting on comments now more seamless (and doesn't make the comments reload)
  • Fixed bug where upvoting a downvoted post would show the incorrect score (off by 1)
[–] lFenix@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Alright, great to hear! Thank you for confirming 😊

 

As it is now, Mlem also supports the ancient v1 of the API. Pretty much the only instance that still uses this version is Hexbear. All other instances use v3.

Dropping support for v1 would mean much less maintenance on my part, and would mean that updates would come out faster and would be less buggy.

On the other hand, Hexbear is probably the largest single instance.

Even now, Mlem doesn't have the same level of support for both API versions; in v1, for example, Mlem doesn't show user avatars (or any avatars for that matter). So overall, v1 of the API is much more limited, and not properly tested.

Is there anyone who uses Hexbear? Should Mlem have so much more code to support just one instance? Please share your thoughts!

[–] lFenix@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Thank you for the great writeup!

I would like to chime in:

  • The name Mlem is a little bit of a pun. I took the first three letters from the name "Lemmy" (so, "Lem") and I noticed it's close to the interjection "mlem," which is the name for when a cute animal sticks their tongue out.
  • Speaking of the first point, I imagined the logo to be a head of a rodent with its tongue out.

The Mlem Name

I think we can't change the name at this point. I'm already doing advertising on Reddit and other platforms, and the name is associated with the brand. It's also going to be on the Lemmy homepage soon (as in, it's already merged into the codebase), so I think we have to rule out any changes to the name.

On the spot, I don't know if any part of the name should be emphasized. There's that "LEM" part paying homage to "LEMmy", but also "Mlem" is a word of its own. I would love some ideas from other people.

The Icon

The icon is very close to the Mickey Mouse head because it's AI-generated (I'm horrible at graphics), and I couldn't get the AI to generate anythig else than a generic mouse head. And I couldn't get it to generate a mouse head with its tongue out at all, so I had to settle with that we have now.

I would love the icon to be 3d, cute and minimalist, a-la Panic apps. Something like their logo for Transmit:

Transmit logo

Another example of a pleasing icon is, in my opinion, NetNewsWire:

NetNewsWire logo

I also like this custom Telegram icon:

Telegram logo

I think the most important thing for the logo is to be 3d and cute. If it had a lemming sticking its tongue out, it would be even better. Also, it shouldn't be hyper realistic and overly skeumorphic; I'm personally not a big fan of the iOS 6 icon design.

The Audience

The main purpose of Mlem is to be approachable (that's why I'm emphasizing cuteness in the Logo section) to everyone (for example, I'm doing user testing with my teen sisten, my mom and grandma). I found approachability to be lacking in the Fediverse in general, so that's what I'm focusing on with Mlem. Making a very coplicated concept friendly and approachable to the average user.

Mlem has to be as simple and easy to use, sometimes having to hide features that the average person would consider too complicated (for example, Mlem doesn't show instances at all, nor does it mention "Federation" or "Instance" and other terms the general public might consider confusing).

Other Points from the Post

Should the emphasis be to make it fit within the overall Lemmy GUI ecosystem itself, adhering to and following the default GUI design of the default Lemmy instance installation, and change with that as it changes?

For me, that's a no. As mentioned above, Mlem has its own way of naming things and doing things, so I think we shouldn't try to belong into the ecosystem too much.

Should the default icon style be ever-changing, similar to how Apollo’s icon designs were customizable?

This is something that I think we should consider. I think there should be a static, non-changing default icon, with users being able to submit their own designs. And if they fit well, they could become available as options.

Color theory should be applied to the default aesthetic of this design, of course, so I’ll give you a link to the emotional/cultural impact of colors to inform those decisions. If this app is going to be used worldwide, we will need to take into account cultural variations in terms of color interpretation.

and

Given that lemmings are native to the arctic tundra, should we take that into account in the design/coloration? Using whites and blues to bring to mind ice and snow? Or is that too cold/forbidding, and we want to be warmer and more inviting?

I think we should choose an approachable color. Mlem is not meant to be a business or overly serious app, so we shouldn't go that way. I'm leaving the color up to the others, just don't make it stuck-up or too formal.


So these were my points and opinions, I'd love to hear from everyone! :)

[–] lFenix@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I just tried logging into feddit and it logs me in no problem: https://streamable.com/iv71tq

But I just wanted to confirm, in the "Homepage" field, did you put in "feddit.de" or "www.feddit.de"?

[–] lFenix@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

When I first heard of American healthcare, I thought they were just joking

 

This is a line I’ve read today. There’s an exhibition about the history of the town that I used to live in (and came to visit because my parents live here). It detailed the history of local industry.

It started off at the beginning of the 20th century with a couple of mentions of landowners, petite bourgeoise and private farmers independently developing rudimentary confectionery and baking industry.

Then came the socialist era, during which all this industry was nationalized and transformed into worker cooperatives. It detailed how the industry prospered during socialism and the factories grew exponentially under the guidance of the communist party, but of course, had to throw in “despite great successes of the socialist system in developing the region significantly, it’s totalitarian tyranny left much in the way of personal freedoms to be desired”.

And last, it mentioned the disaster that was the privatizations of 1991. Right after that line in the title, it highlighted a couple of capitalists who came to own most of the previously-collectivized industry, and fired most of the workers, who then left the region, leaving the town in shambles and the local industry to collapse.

The exhibition then concluded with the line “despite many workers being let go, they, compared to the totalitarian socialist regime, had the freedom to find employment elsewhere”

Man, I gotta stop reading this shit.

 

Feel free to join and test

 

I can't get the video to upload, so you can watch it here: https://streamable.com/y2rhib

You can access the community search field by tapping the header where the community name is.

That brings up a search field, where you can look up communities by name. It also shows you the communities you favorited. You can then add/remove them from favorites.

 

What's up everyone