Gluon for Micro.blog

If you're using Gluon and have push notifications enabled, please know that I made a mistake many years ago... so you have to go to the app and "re-activate" for your accounts please. If not, it'll be a little quiet until I figure out some migration... but that won't be today.

"...welcome to a small but important update to Gluon.

* Bug fixes and general improvements."

— Release 2024.2 for Gluon 😋

"Just released a new TestFlight for 2024.2 Build 3 that addresses the following issues"

— TestFlight 2024.2 [3] on the Gluon Update Blog

There's a new Gluon TestFlight out for iOS. Nothing major in this one, just some minor tweaks on picking up emoji and perhaps better mute filtering on those.

This one will be a slow one.

Not sure if it's just me, but Gluon seems to hold the timeline position a little better since the last release. Anyone else? Maybe because I only follow a handful of peeps I guess 🤷‍♂️

Wow, what a year it’s been and now we’re onto the next already. So I’m wasting no time to get you all those goodies to you. Gluon nearly was cancelled, but I thought it better not to — people should never let you get you so low, just ignore them and move on and become better.

Let’s go, because there is a lot, some highlights:

• [NEW] Timeline rendering has been rewritten so things look nicer and handles more HTML (huh?) than before. This one was one of the bigger changes. Mostly works... 99.99% of the time :)
• [NEW] For posts with many images, you now see a nice scrollable gallery, instead of taking up a lot of space. Just tap to select and you’re good to go.
• [NEW] For images in the image modal, it’ll now show the ALT/Descriptive text below it. It’s hidden by default, all you have to do is scroll below the image.
• [NEW/TWEAK] Big changes the "Focus" mode, which basically is the "I am tired of reading my timeline, just show me my mentions" mode.
• [NEW] When navigating to a conversation, it will now attempt to scroll to the correct item you have tapped on and will also highlight it with a blue line and dot.

Focus mode changes:

• [NEW] Adds a moon/focus icon next to your profile image — you can long press to disable or tap to go to focus settings.
• [NEW] If you have pinned profiles, they show up in the header for quick access (if your nitpicky settings have it set as showing up in the header — previously it was hidden... no matter the setting).
• [NEW] When navigating to a pinned profile during focus mode it will now show their timeline. Other profile timelines will be kept hidden. If you pin a profile, it will show you the timeline.
• [NEW] A new "focus" setting where you can hide the "compose"/new post button...
• [TWEAK] Hides the bottom tab bar when you have the "show mentions tab only" setting selected.

On top of that, there’s also a truck load of fixes of bugs that accumulated last year! Plus some tweaks.

• [FIX] Fixed an issue with discover feed NEVER updating. It should now ALWAYS stay up to date! Super sorry about this.
• [TWEAK] When selecting an image in a gallery, it will now scroll to the image much quicker than before.
• And much much more that are too numerous to list here because I’m lazy. The TestFlight was a wild ride.

And... thank you all for your continued support, your kind messages and picking me up when I’m down. It means the world to me.

As always I work on improving the app for everyone, so if you have suggestions, let me know. I do know that some features are missing, but know that I know :)

Thank you and enjoy. Happy New Year!

Grab it here. And you can also find the Gluon homepage here.

✌️❤️

— Vincent

Well, Happy New Year folks! This morning I made some minor tweaks to Gluon and have submitted it for review. Fingers crossed it'll ship this week. Thank you all ✌️❤️

Ah, the delightful sound of tuning out the world - it's almost as good as the sound of Christmas cookies mystically disappearing into my stomach. Time for one last hurrah with an update before we all scamper off for the holidays. And what's on the menu? Gluon, of course. But shh, let's not spill the beans to Santa; he might want in on the action!

Just a heads-up, in case the sugar rush has got you a bit foggy: this update is all about enhancing the focus mode. Keep that in mind as you navigate through the new changes!

Now, for the grand reveal of what I've cooked up in the Gluon kitchen:

• [TWEAK] The bottom tab bar is now officially a ghost. Poof! Gone! Why? We (royal we) decided that the bottom tab bar was as useful as a snowman in summer, so it's gone!
• [NEW] We’ve added a moon/focus icon next to your profile picture. It's like a magic button - long press to make Focus Mode disappear or tap to conjure the focus settings. Abracadabra!
• [NEW] Pinned profiles are now making a grand entrance in the header. This is, of course, if your 'nitpicky' settings are set to display them there. Previously, they were playing hide and seek, but no longer!
• [NEW] Venturing into a pinned profile in Focus Mode? Surprise! Their timeline shows up. Others? They're playing the invisible game. Pin a profile, and it's like unlocking a secret timeline treasure chest.
• [NEW] Introducing a "focus" setting to hide the "compose" button. Perfect for those who want to focus on the few brave souls replying to their posts over the holidays. Santa's making a list of who's naughty or nice, but here, we're just hiding buttons.

And now, for the grand finale, let me unveil a few surprise fixes that are so secretive, even the elves don't have them on their radar:

• [FIX] Fixed that annoying little bug where replying to someone didn't autofill the username. Apparently, my coding skills decided to take an early holiday.
• [TWEAK] I've tweaked some layouts here and there. It's like rearranging the furniture in a room nobody visits – subtle, yet satisfying.

A big thank you to everyone for a fabulous year, even to those who couldn't find the 'like' button. I'll catch you all after the holidays, hopefully not too stuffed with cookies. Happy Holidays from the Gluon team (me!) - where our updates are almost as regular as Santa's visits, but with less chimney soot!

Ho ho ho, seems like Santa's elves (or was it me in a holiday daze?) left us some surprise bugs in our stockings!

• [FIX] Remember those new timeline items that were as blank as my face during a surprise party? Fixed 'em! No more app-breaking vanishing acts.
• [FIX] Sending replies with links was breaking more than just the ice. Well, not anymore! Links in replies are now as smooth as eggnog.
• [FIX] And about that off-kilter background colour in replies? We've adjusted it. It's no longer looking like it dressed in the dark!

Happy holidays, and here's to fewer 'oops' moments and more 'ahh, that's better' updates!

Previously...

Well, butter my biscuit, I've gone and goofed up the latest Gluon TestFlight... Now we've got timeline items showing up emptier than a ghost town, and the replies? They're looking funnier than a clown at a board meeting. Oops! 🤡📱

Alright folks, gather 'round! It's time for our holiday update, where we fix things you didn't even know were broken - it's like finding hidden presents, but without the joy.

• [FIX] We might have fixed the app crash when you try to open a conversation. I mean, who knew apps needed to be stable to converse? Our developer discovered this revolutionary idea just last week!
• [FIX] Profile pages now actually update when you follow or unfollow someone. Yes, it's a miracle, like seeing Santa at the gym in January.
• [FIX] The discover timeline was stuck, but now it's potentially unstuck. Let's play a fun game of "Did it Really Fix?" - your feedback is like those letters to Santa!
• [TWEAK] Inline videos are back! We removed them last time just to see if you'd notice. Spoiler: You did.
• [TWEAK/EXPERIMENTAL] Timeline positioning is like that one light on the tree that won't stay put. We've nudged it a bit. Not perfect, but hey, neither is Aunt Edna's fruitcake.
• [SHADOW BANS] More work on shadow bans because we're naughty, not nice. Kidding! If we really banned you, we'd send a lovely "Please Leave" card with a heart emoji. Holiday spirit and all that jazz.

Remember, if something breaks, it's probably part of our "festive feature set." Happy holidays, and here's to hoping your app experience is smoother than your uncle's dance moves at the holiday party!

Just pushed out a quick update to Gluon on TestFlight:

• [NEW] When you navigate to a conversation, the post you have selected will now be highlighted with a blue dot (next to the timestamp) and border so it’s easy to identify... which goes in hand with:
• [TWEAK] Tweaked the scroll to behaviour when navigating to a conversation where the item now actually scrolls to the desired position (maybe) — and it’s also a little bit more faster.
• [TWEAK] Tweaked the Nitpicky main titles and also the layout of the section so that titles are shorter and descriptions also (i.e. now they don’t push things around and go to another line).
• [TWEAK] Changed the colour of blockquotes in dark mode. It was a little hard to see. Thanks for reporting that again!
• [FIX] Fixes an issue with some accounts not getting past login. Sorry about that. My butterfly keyboard = spelling mistakes :_(

Conversation view might need a little bit more tweaking though...

I was bored, so I added a gallery view to Gluon. So when there is a post with multiple images (if you're @maique for example) it'll present them in a nice row. Single image posts are not affected. Will be available via TestFlight tomorrow.

Quick TestFlight update for Gluon today:

• [NEW] Alt tags for images now show at the bottom of the image, when you open up the image modal. Just scroll to see it.
• [FIX] Fixed the image width and height when viewed on the timeline. Yay!
• [FIX] Fixed timeline jumping around. No longer a party, but easier to read!
• [FIX] Font changes are now shown in the timeline.

Just want to give a huge thank you to everyone that messaged me in support of Gluon. You're the best! ❤️