Two missing features in kbin: Collapse comments and quick preview of images/videos

Habnab, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

With the help of ChatGPT I made a userscript that enables collapsing comments and their children:
https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/468449-kbin-collapsible-comments

It adds a little chevron you can click next to the time in the header of comments.

fcuks, 10 months ago

deleted_by_author

Habnab, 10 months ago

Yeah that would definitely be optimal but kbin is built with PHP which I don't have much interest in working with in my free time lol.

I imagine collapsing will be officially added fairly soon tho.

DarkThoughts, 10 months ago

Hm. I kinda wish it would only collapse the replies but not the entire top level comment. It would also be nice to have a collapse / expand all button.

Habnab, 10 months ago

I've updated the script to add a "hide replies" button

Habnab, 10 months ago

Also, while publishing that I saw this other userscript that moves the comment writing box to the top of the comments instead of the bottom, very nice.
https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/468426-kbin-comment-reorder

DarkThoughts, 10 months ago

Alternative: https://kbin.social/m/fediverse/t/12194/You-can-now-get-Kbin-it-my-Reddit-like-theme-for-kbin

CodingAndCoffee, 10 months ago

Here's one I wrote which recursively collapses comments, and collapses top-level comments by default

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/468460-kbin-collapsable-comments

vizhal007, 10 months ago

Can you change the collapse text to the chevron from OP's code, or is that a feature?

CodingAndCoffee, 10 months ago

I can add some variations of the script including that, yes.

The one thing I noticed is there are some text wrapping issues on Android Firefox that I'll fix tomorrow as well

vizhal007, 10 months ago

Thanks!

Do i need to download something else when you do change it or does it get updated automatically?

CodingAndCoffee, 10 months ago

version 0.8 is out, now supporting fedia.io as well as kbin.social

chevrons are now used. mobile experience is way more intuitive and looks cleaner

vizhal007, 10 months ago

This is great, thanks a lot!

vizhal007, 10 months ago

Holy shit, you've blown my mind with being able to change UI on the fly. Is this a fediverse only thing?

EnglishMobster, 10 months ago

Nah, a lot of places can do it. Even Reddit could do it, on Old Reddit.

New Reddit I think made it a lot harder.

DarkThoughts, 10 months ago

Collapsible comments is going to come at some point.
https://codeberg.org/Kbin/kbin-core/issues/9

prallax, 10 months ago

Yes!! Bring collapsible comments please! So far I am enjoying the experience. I do all my Kbin reading on phone using Safari. The web app is working well if only I could collapse comments I probably could go a long time like this until hopefully an app is released.

QuestioningEspecialy, 10 months ago

Collapse 👏🏿 The 👏🏿 Comments 👏🏿

NRVulture, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

I think kbin also needs a collapse post feature, or ditching the paginated comments and implementing endless scrolling comments instead. Reading comments on mobile when the original post is long can be a hassle coz viewing comments on next page basically reloads the whole webpage and I'm back to the top.

Edit:
And an easier way to subscribe to magazines from a different federated instance. Right now I have to go to their instance, copy the "email address" and paste it to the search bar on kbin, replace the first "!" with "@" coz the latter is the one used on kbin, hit enter and click subscribe.

poiy, 10 months ago

it would be cool if the site would autoload more posts when you scroll down, so that you dont have to click on "next" or something.

re, 10 months ago

The "Infinite scroll" setting is most likely intended to be the toggle for that, I assume it's currently just bugged.

Skeptic043, 10 months ago

I think I remember seeing something about that being disabled for the time being to help prevent the server(s) being overloaded due to the influx of new users, although I could be wrong. I imagine it'll be re-enabled before long.

restingcarcass, 10 months ago

I might be missing something but it also looks like saving comments/posts isn't possible, at least on mobile. That definitely needs to be implemented at some point.

BlueKitty, 10 months ago

This is the feature I have been looking around to find and it seems like it just isn't supported yet, as far as I can see.

The datahoarder/librarian in me has me always reflexively looking for it. I tend to read on my phone and then when I'm at my computer I go through things I've saved for a more in depth exploration.

I am barely PHP literate so I'm not much help for developing support for this.

ngmi, 10 months ago

A quicker way to comment on mobile, scrolling through the whole thread is kinda annoying

0x1C3B00DA, 10 months ago

@Nankeru
https://codeberg.org/Kbin/kbin-core/issues

Check if those are already requested and if not, file issues for them.

new_world, 10 months ago

Quick image preview would be a great quality of life improvement. That and having to scroll all the way to the bottom to comment.

FaceDeer, 10 months ago

I think it'd be good to have a reply field at the top and bottom of the comment list. The top one for when I want to angrily fire off my very important opinion without bothering to read through the whole comment list to see if anyone else has already angrily fired it off, and the bottom one for when I've finished reading all of the existing comments and have synthesized a well-considered and balanced opinion that accounts for all of what has been said so far (never used).

re, 10 months ago

Some apps just have a floating button like the "return to top" button to add a new comment. Works especially well on mobile, can imagine it feeling quite janky on desktop.

Astronomik, 10 months ago

A “jump to next top-level comment” button would also be a great addition alongside comment collapsing.

Habnab, 10 months ago

Don't we already have image preview with a single click?

It's just this little button instead of the thumbnail: https://i.imgur.com/BoUdcm2.png

The same is next to the link in comments.

DarkThoughts, 10 months ago

Although this unfortunately does not work with text, like in RES.

Scourge, 10 months ago

Learning the new stuff like this will help, but I do prefer seeing an actual thumbnail image itself. If it could be expanded without opening the link that would be amazing too.

FaceDeer, 10 months ago

I could see this being troublesome sometimes, trolls could stick images into the comments that go straight into the part of your brain that remembers horrifying images and pops them back up into your conscious mind at random intervals throughout the rest of your life.

Might be a thing that you could have settings for, both in the configuration of a community ("magazine" is a weird name for this, sorry) and in your personal settings. Turning it off could save bandwidth, too, though probably a specialized theme for that would be better.

Theoctoling201, 10 months ago

I’m new to this. Is there a Dm feature for private conversations yet? If not, hope someday Kbin gets a feature including groups.

MothraCultist, 10 months ago

if you click on someone's profile there is an option to send them a direct message

wolfshadowheart, 10 months ago

I use Imagus and hovering over the thumbnail provides a small portion of the image. Not ideal for guides, but handy for previewing.

namesare4squares, 10 months ago

Infinity scroll in comment threads would be great too, unless I've just missed the setting for that one.

Flyingtiger188, 10 months ago

Recent join and endless scrolling of comments and post is the one feature that I'm missing from Boost / Reddit Enchancement Suite.

Habnab, 10 months ago

Remember to turn on infinite scroll then

the_inebriati, 10 months ago

Sorry - quick question - how are you getting rid of the left and right whitespace? I have a good 30% of my screen taken up by margins (like on new reddit).

Your screenshot looks way nicer.

Habnab, 10 months ago

Sorry to disappoint but that's just a screenshot of part of the page lol, haven't changed anything.

But you could probably make a userstyle that tweaks it for you.

duringoverflow, 10 months ago

does it work for you though? I have enabled "infinity scroll" but still see pagination at the end of the comments. Or isn't it for the comments in the first place?

grus, 10 months ago

Quick preview of images and videos (single click to thumbnail)

Also a quick preview of linked images: if you hover a link like this https://i.imgur.com/nlF1Bo0.png it should show off a popup with the image (I know there's an icon you can click and it expands and embed, but I'm a lazy bastard and I think everyone's like me, lol)

Also in the drop down next to the username, besides Subscribed/Moderated/Favorites/All, maybe it'd be useful if it has a list of all the magazines you're subscribed to for easy access? I find myself going through several steps/links if I want to reach the magazine that I want.
Or any other easily accessible place where we can pin particular magazines for easy access.

lakluster, 10 months ago

Collapsible comments are the only point making me still consider lemmy. I may just go spin up my own kbin instance and hack in the functionality myself.

VerifiablyMrWonka, 10 months ago

And then submit the changes upstream 😉

FaceDeer, 10 months ago

But then how will he draw users specifically to his instance and away from all the others, allowing him to eventually cash in one day by putting a paywall on his instance's API access? :)

Kierunkowy74, 10 months ago

Not yet. kbin.social is only 18th largest fediverse server by MAU (data by fediverse.observer). Some Mastodon servers are up to 3 times larger than kbin.social. Mastodon.social has 20 times more MAU.

Spy, 10 months ago

With everything going on currently I'd expect those numbers to change fast