this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
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I think better UI by default would be much more important. Right now the biggest issue is probably that people look at lemmy and find it intimidating due to its messy UI.
No. It not the UI. It is the pick a "Feterated Instance" stuff before you even know what it is. No one knows those words. It should just work for new users. Instances and federation should be presented later.
There should be a simple signup that looks something like:
[choose a username] @ [choose an instance]
Where the first one is an input field and the second one is a drop down or search bar. People can pick whatever instance name piques their fancy to get started. Once they understand the fediverse better they can move to another server (hopefully migration will be built-in at some point).
Thats part of why almost everyone joins lemmy.world. Easy rec.
That's what I did. Then lemmy.world got slow, I found a small nearby server with great local content, moved there (took days to subscribe the groups again). Then the server went offline, now back to lemmy.world, and I have no idea if the server will be ever back again.
That's what I did. Then lemmy.world got slow, I found a small nearby server with great local content, moved there (took days to subscribe the groups again). Then the server went offline, now back to lemmy.world, and I have no idea if the server will be ever back again.
I think better communication about what federation is would help. I keep seeing folks say it's like email, but that assumes the average person understands how email works.
We should start describing it as "like if Reddit, Digg, and Hacker News could see and comment on each other's content"
This! I've been working on a new web UI for exactly this reason. We don't need Lemmy to appeal to everyone, but making it less intimidating and more welcoming does go a long way towards diversifying the communities within Lemmy.
That said, I do appreciate all the volunteers who made Lemmy what it is today. UI/UX is a skillset onto itself, and I don't want to look a gift horse in its mouth.
Intimidating? I think it's simple enough and got used to it quickly after I switched to Reddit.
https://old.lemmy.world is an awesome recently-pushed feature btw
The nostalgia of early Reddit...
Now I'm intrigued to make account in lemmy.world.
You can use mlmym.org with any instance
Neat!
I also agree, accessibility is a key for new users