feditips

feditips, 1 year ago to fediverse

BookWyrm is the Fediverse's answer to Amazon's GoodReads.

BookWyrm helps you keep track of what you're reading, discover new books and publish reviews of books you've read.

You can follow them at @bookwyrm and find out more at:

https://joinbookwyrm.com

There's a list of servers to join at:

https://joinbookwyrm.com/instances

There's a built-in book catalogue powered by Wikidata in collaboration with @inventaire

BookWyrm is part of the Fediverse and accounts on BookWyrm servers can be followed by people from Mastodon etc, for example @mouse is the BookWyrm founder's account.

Anyone (except corporations) can start their own BookWyrm server by installing the software, and there's a managed hosting service for people who join the top tier on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/posts/64768354).

#BookWyrm #Fediverse #Books #Book #Reading #Literature #GoodReads #Alternatives

feditips, 1 year ago to mastodon

By default, Mastodon has a 500 character limit for posts.

However, you may have seen posts with more than 500 characters.

This is possible because Mastodon is just one type of server on the Fediverse. Many of the accounts you interact with on here may be using different server types with different character limits.

For example, there are modified "forked" versions of Mastodon such as Glitch (https://glitch-soc.github.io/docs/) and Hometown (https://github.com/hometown-fork/hometown) which allow server admins to easily change the character limits.

There are also completely different kinds of servers such as Friendica (https://friendi.ca) which have much larger default limits.

Because the Fediverse uses a common technical standard for communication, different kinds of servers talk to each other seamlessly, and you won't necessarily notice which server types people use. (I'm on a server running Glitch Mastodon, which is how this post can be so long.)

#Mastodon #Fediverse #CharacterLimit #CharacterLimits

feditips, 1 year ago to fediverse

If you have a Mastodon account and follow someone, the follow button will sometimes display a "Follow request sent" message.

Usually this is because the other account has follow approval switched on, which means its owner will manually decide whether to accept your follow request. This kind of account has a padlock 🔒 icon next to it on its profile page.

However... Mastodon also displays this "Follow request sent" message if something has gone wrong with the follow, especially if you're trying to follow someone on a non-Mastodon server.

Partially broken federation often causes Mastodon to display this message, for some reason.

If you see "follow request sent" when you try to follow someone, and they don't have a padlock 🔒 on their profile page, then it's likely that the follow didn't work properly.

If a follow doesn't work properly, try unfollowing them (or cancel the follow request), wait a bit, then click "follow" again.

#Mastodon #Following #FollowRequests

feditips, 1 year ago to fediverse

If you have an independently hosted WordPress blog, you can turn it into a Fediverse server by installing the WordPress ActivityPub plugin. This means people can follow your blog from Mastodon etc.

Here's how to do it:

1. Go to your WordPress dashboard's Plugins section, click "add new" and search for "ActivityPub" . Click "install now" on the plugin, and when it has finished installing, click "activate".

2. On the WordPress dashboard, go to the "Users" section. Click on your username and scroll to the bottom to find your Fediverse address. Share this address with whoever wants to follow your blog on Mastodon etc.

3. To alter the plugin's settings, on your WordPress dashboard go to Settings > ActivityPub

If you want to switch off or remove the plugin, go to "plugins", then "deactivate" or "delete".

NOTE: This plugin only works with independently hosted WordPress sites. It doesn't work with free accounts on WordPress.com.

#FediTips #Fediverse #ActivityPub #WordPress

feditips, 1 year ago to animals

When you're posting hashtags that contain multiple words, it's a good idea to capitalise the first letter of each word. This helps blind people who use screen reader software to know what the hashtag actually says.

For example #DogsOfMastodon is much easier for screen reader users than #dogsofmastodon, even though they're technically the same tag.

This kind of capitalisation is usually known as "CamelCase". CamelCase doesn't just help blind people, it also makes hashtags clearer for sighted people too!

Using CamelCase won't affect your post's visibility (because searches ignore capitalisation) but it will improve the post's accessibility, so you'll get more people reading it.

Thank you to @martyn for raising this topic 👍

#FediTips #Fediverse #MastoTips #Accessibility #A11y

feditips, 1 year ago to fediverse

RSS fans!

You can follow any Mastodon account via RSS by just adding ".rss" to the end of the account's public profile URL.

To find a user's public profile URL, click on their profile image within Mastodon.

For example, if you click on FediTips' profile image you get this page in a new tab:

https://mstdn.social/@feditips

So, to follow FediTips through RSS, use this address:

https://mstdn.social/@feditips.rss

This will only show that account's public posts. Other posts will not be visible on the RSS feed.

#RSS #MastoTips #FediTips #Mastodon

feditips, 2 years ago to mastodon

Are you using Mastodon through a computer?

Do you wish there was a multi-column TweetDeck-style interface?

There is! It's called the "advanced web interface" and you can activate it any time you want. It lets you add many specialised columns, subscribe to hashtags and all kinds of stuff suited to large wide displays.

Log into the website, go to Preferences > Enable Advanced Web Interface, tick the box and click "Save Changes".

(To restore the default single column interface, do the same thing but untick the box instead.)

This used to be the default interface on Mastodon, and very old articles about the platform will have screenshots of the multicolumn interface.

#MastoTips #Mastodon #TweetDeck #FediTips #Interface

feditips, 2 years ago to mastodon

If you want to manage your block list and mute list on Mastodon, log in through the website and then press the little V shaped button just above the box where you write toots (see the attached image).

This will cause a menu to appear, which includes managing blocks and mutes.

#MastoTips #Mastodon #FediTips #Mutes #Blocks

feditips, 2 years ago to fediverse

As an alternative to FediTips, you might want to also check out @noelle's "Increasingly Less-Brief Guide to Mastodon":

https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon

It's got slightly different takes on many issues, but hopefully seeing a different perspective will give you a fuller understanding of how Mastodon works.

#MastoTips #Mastodon #FediTips #Fediverse

feditips, 2 years ago to random

UPDATE: If you want to transfer your account to another server, here's how to do it:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server

This guide is a bit longer than other guides as it includes moving your followers, follows and blocks/mutes/bookmarks.

(By the way, sorry for people seeing notification of this post edit. I had to edit as the original contents were somewhat out of date. As this post now links to my website instead, you won't get any future update notices for this post.)

feditips, 2 years ago to animals

The Fediverse has lots of blind and partially-sighted users who rely on audio screen reader software to tell them what is going on.

Here's how to make your posts more suitable for screen readers:

-Use CamelCase on hashtags, where each new word has a capital letter, for example #DogsOfMastodon instead of #dogsofmastodon. CamelCase makes it much easier for screen readers to see the different words and read them out properly.

-Don't use long groups of emoji all next to each other, these are really irritating to hear read out loud.

-Add text descriptions to images and videos before you post them. Do this by attaching the file and clicking "edit" before you post it, then add the description.

p.s. The Mastodon bug where CamelCase hashtags were being accidentally replaced has now been fixed (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/16460).

#FediTips #MastoTips #Accessibility #A11y

feditips, 2 years ago to mastodon

You can embed Mastodon posts on websites.

Go to the post you want to embed, click on "..." underneath it, then select "embed".

This will give you HTML code you can paste into wherever you want to embed the post.

#MastoTips #Mastodon #FediTips #Embedding

feditips, 2 years ago to fediverse

The Fediverse is more than just Mastodon! :fediverse:

If you like to share photos you might want to check out @pixelfed, an Instagram-style photo sharing network on the Fediverse.

You can find out more and sign up at:

https://pixelfed.org

PixelFed uses the same federation protocol as Mastodon, which means Mastodon users can follow people on PixelFed and vice versa. You can try following a PixelFed account right now such as @Iancylkowski or @JoseMel or @connyduck

You can use PixelFed through a web browser, and there are also free open Android apps like @PixelDroid and FediLab (@apps).

#Fediverse #FediTips #Instagram #Alternatives #PixelFed

feditips, 2 years ago to animals

Some good hashtags to check out on the Fediverse:

#BreadPosting - Things people have baked

#DogsOfMastodon - Pictures of good bois

#Florespondence - Plants and flowers

#SFFBookClub - Discussing sci-fi and fantasy books

#MastoArt - Artists on the Fediverse

#Introduction & #Introductions - New people on here, say hello

#NP & #NowPlaying - Music tracks currently listened to

#Caturday - Pictures of cats on Saturdays

#Sporespondence - Mushrooms and other fungi

#SmallStories & #TootFic & #SmallPoems - Fiction and poetry short enough to fit into a toot

#Mosstodon - Pictures of moss

#BandcampFriday - Interesting artists on Bandcamp

#AmReading - Anything you are reading

#AmWriting - Anything you are writing

#AskMastodon & #AskFediverse - Requesting help or info from people on the Fedi

#VendrediLecture - French language discussion of books on Fridays

#MastoRadio - Italian language discussion of music

#FediTips #MastoTips #Hashtags

feditips, 2 years ago to random

Manyverse isn't part of the Fediverse, because it works very differently. It's part of the SSB (aka Scuttlebutt) network, and is trying to make SSB more user friendly.

However, the aim of Manyverse/SSB is very similar to the Fediverse: to decentralise social media. You may want to try it out!

Manyverse have just released their first desktop apps, so Manyverse is now available for all major platforms (Linux, Mac, Windows, Android, iOS). You can find out more and download the apps at:

https://www.manyver.se

They also have a Fediverse account at @manyver_se

I've previously posted that Manyverse is serverless, but this isn't quite true. It can be very difficult to reliably connect internet users peer-to-peer, so Manyverse uses special servers called "Rooms" to connect users. However, actual user data is not stored online, so data storage is still serverless. There's a video explaining Room servers at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5p0y_MWwDE

#Manyverse #SSB #Scuttlebutt #SecureScuttlebutt

feditips, 2 years ago to mastodon

Do you use Mastodon through an app?

Could you post a reply letting us know the good things and the bad things about the app you use?

Hopefully we can get a thread going to help people discover and choose the right app for them.

(Thanks to 438 for suggesting this topic!)

#MastoTips #Mastodon #FediTips #Fediverse #Apps #AskMastodon #AskFediverse #AskTheFediverse

feditips, 2 years ago to art

You can view a Mastodon user's public posts with a particular hashtag by adding /tagged/(hashtag) on the end of their public URL:

(account's public URL)/tagged/(tag)

For example, @FediFollows posts with the hashtag #Art can be viewed at:

https://mastodon.online/@FediFollows/tagged/art

You can find the public URL of a Mastodon account by going to its profile and clicking on the avatar image.

#MastoTips #Mastodon #Feditips #Hashtags #Fediverse

feditips, 3 years ago to random

You can (sort of) verify your identity on Mastodon if you own a website.

1. Go to Edit Profile > Appearance > Profile Metadata, add your website address (including https://) to the metadata section.

2. Copy the verification code into your website's code. (The verification code is next to the Metadata section)

3. Click "Save Changes" after you have done all of the above.

Your website will then be listed on your profile with a green background and a tick next to it, proving you are the owner.