Vincent Ritter

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Gluon for Micro.blog

A beautiful, nimble and customisable app purposely built for Micro.blog. Now archived. Thank you to all through the years ✌️❤️

Gluon is a highly opinionated, but customisable, cross platform app for Android and iOS for Micro.blog.

If you’d like to find out more, please visit the Gluon website. Or keep scrolling to read the development blog.

With Gluon, you can do the following:

Project posts JSON/RSS Feed...

One more tiny tweak to Gluon today is that if you have supported me in the past, you can disable ads on the timeline for as long as you want. I also give you the 5 day option. I believe the content is still relevant for the "Discover More" section though.

This is part 2 of the new challenge screen for Gluon. You can see I have added profile images of everyone that suggested the prompts. I did want to add usernames, but it felt too cluttered. Tapping on a profile picture takes you to their profile.

Conscious not to make too many UI tweaks to Gluon, however I have tweaked the Challenge screen somewhat. More I want to do here, but it will have to wait. Happy with what I did though.

Just finishing off work, on Gluon, to allow pinning of the discover emoji, so it’s easy to get back to your favourite ones on the discover timeline.

Gluon — TestFlight 2021.1 (Build 7). Micro Monday, Ads & Promotions, Inline images.

Happy Friday/weekend everyone. There is a new build out on iOS TestFlight for both fast-track and slow-track.

Now that my brain had the chance to let go of some steam by releasing Sublime Ads I could finally get back into the swing to give Gluon some ongoing love.

In this build there are a few new things.

Native privacy focused, and friendly, ads.

I built Sublime Ads so I can add promoted content/ads into Gluon (and other things too!), so I took the time to integrate those.

Super happy with the result, which is not obtrusive and actually looks really great.

Here is the discover timeline:

And here is the discover "more" section:

Now I totally get that not everyone likes ads or promoted content. For this purpose I have some settings for you. However, these ads are only relevant to Gluon and the community on Micro.blog. I think it's one of the best places on the internet and, as such, I'd love to promote anyone with a podcast or even an indie app.

You may disable ads on the main discovery timeline for 5 days. After this time it will reset and you'll have to toggle once again. Ads will still show on the "discover more" screen because I think it's relevant.

I am also building a permanent off switch into that screen for anyone that has supported my work. More time is needed to make that happen — it will ship within the next few weeks though.

Here is the settings screen:

And here is the little toggle when you turn them off:

Micro Monday

I gave the Micro Monday section some care and attention. Now we have a nicer preview of what it is, including a special header linking to the website, profile and the podcasts.

There is a little more I want to do here and perhaps surface it on the discover timeline when it's Monday. I'll make it an option so you can hide it of course, might get a bit too cluttered there.

Here are the screenshots:

Inline images

You can now inline images in the compose window when creating a new post, if you have a hosted Micro.blog account. It's simple, but I hope you like it. Just tap the image after it uploaded and select the inline option.

Before Gluon sends the post it will check if it can see the special URL for that image in the text area. If not, it will fallback to appending the image as usual. I think that's a good tradeoff.


There is more I want to do here, for example multi image uploading and displaying all the media you have and being able to use those. More details on that as I go with the build. And nope, I won't add a "uploaded with Gluon" or anything.

More to come

There is more to come as the weeks go. I am happy to be back in swing with this.

Let me know how you get on... and if you want to see your own podcast or app on there, let me know: [email protected].

Steady as she goes.

✌️❤️

Gluon — TestFlight changes

It's been a busy week, so I wanted take some time and look at my testing set up for Gluon on iOS.

As you may be aware I run a few different TestFlight versions for Gluon. There is the official one on the Gluon website and then there is one that I link to when someone asks me to be on the "beta" or otherwise.

Over time I have started giving people the option of a "fast track" and a "slow track".

The problem is the way I work. I like to make little changes, push them up and build a new TestFlight version, and then release. However that means you can sometimes get 5 - 8 builds a day when I'm actively working on Gluon.

I do this because mentally I am "done" with a certain task, it's ticked off and I don't need to do anything else. Mental baggage gone.

However, this also means that you're going to get bombarded with "NEW TESTFLIGHT!!!!" notifications (if you have them enabled) on your devices. For some this is totally fine. For others it's just plain painful.

I get it!

So, going forward I will offer everyone two versions.

Slow track - once every one/two/three weeks, during development:
https://testflight.apple.com/join/RwbLiFcR

Fast track - overkill, on the edge builds, sometimes multiple a day followed by longer breaks:
https://testflight.apple.com/join/2sbnWuMK

I urge you to have a look and see if you want to switch around.

Thanks for reading. You always know where I am.

For tonight’s entertainment I’ll be reworking the challenges screen in Gluon. Needs some love and I feel inspired after adding those ads/promotions yesterday.

If anyone is interested, I am looking at adding podcasts and indie apps ads to Gluon. This is only a test (during the current TestFlight and a few months), so no money will exchange hands. For active Micro.blog users only.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Urgh, my mind is active! So I’ve added inline images to the Gluon posts screen. It’ll inline the image at your cursor. Also allows you to set the ALT text if desired. If you delete the inline text, it will check before it sends and append the image like magic.

Alrighty, build 4 for Gluon coming via fast track TestFlight — I know they came fast today — it’s how I work, little pieces at a time. Added some general fixes and also an option to disable ads in the settings… I urge you to leave it on for a while though (testing).

So, added a few more links for the lovely Micro Monday to Gluon. Got the links in there. I used to show a little hint in the Discover screen in earlier versions, prompting everyone to recommend someone — might add that again.

Going to be adding a few extras for Micro Monday into Gluon. Have added some basic info and links now, once you find it in the Discover More section. Will also add a few podcast links a little later ❤️ Build 3 of the iOS TestFlight coming any moment.

The initial 2021.1 TestFlight (iOS) update for Gluon is awaiting approval by Apple. Once that’s approved — let’s get the show on the road. Got a few things planned.

In build 1 I made a few tiny changes to the Challenge section in Discover — so it updates better.

The Micro.blog February 2021 Photo Challenge is now live in Gluon. Check it out on the Discover screen for your prompts! Look forward to seeing all the images!