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Just set up Tuba - a GNU/Linux desktop app - for use with my Mastodon account. The onboarding was very impressive!
(posting this with Tuba)
First, Tuba asked me to enter the name of the server I use. So I typed in "mastodon.nzoss.nz". It was happy with that (no "https://" required) and redirected me to the default Masto app in my browser.
I was already logged in, so I landed on a page asking me to approve Tuba for reading and posting to my account. I clicked approve and (after giving my browser permission to open links in Tuba) it returned me to the app. I got a confirmation message that it was set up and ready to use.
I've been getting frustrated with the limitations of using Semaphore in a browser. No offence to its developers, they've only just forked Pinafore, which had been in maintenance mode for quite a while, and I'm thrilled they've stepped up to continue development under a new name. But the lack of Edit Post, for example, has been hopping back to FediLab so much it's making my head spin.
So far, I'm pretty happy with my Tuba experience. No sad trombone for Tuba! ; )
So far, my only major grizzle about Tuba is that notifications are on by default (a bit of a Dark Pattern IMHO and not good for Digital Wellness). Even worse, I can't find any options in the Preferences for turning them off. I just turned off all notifications in my OS settings, problem avoided.
But for people who like notifications, and want to be selective about which apps can notify them, that's going to be a pain.
(1/2)
There's only one other thing I'd change about Tuba (a pretty minor inconvenience). Writing a post requires clicking a fairly small button, tucked away up in the top-left corner of the app. Having a posting box as part of the main body of the interface is pretty standard for fediverse web apps, and that would be my recommendation for a better #HX (Human eXperience). Failing that, make the button bigger, put a word on it (eg "Post" or "Compose"), and put it somewhere more obvious?
(2/2)
Me:
> There's only one other thing I'd change about Tuba
Since then I've noticed one other thing. The compose window is a pop-up. But it's not a separate window, so you can't go back to the rest of the app, eg to copy text for quoting in a reply.
For replies at least, I would either;
* embed them in the main app, under the post being replied to
* make the pop-up a full window, that can be minimised and worked around