NodeBB v4.10.0 — Alt text, more /world, bugfixes

julian

Hi everybody,

With spring around the corner (it is currently a balmy 5°C here right now), it's time to get crackin' on a new release of NodeBB!

We focused on a lot of user experience updates this time around, along with tweaking the new /world page that was introduced in v4.9.0. In the backend, lots of optimizations were implemented, which make federation processing (and day-to-day maintenance) faster.

Here's what you can expect from v4.10.0...

<img class="not-responsive emoji" src="https://community.nodebb.org/assets/plugins/nodebb-plugin-emoji/emoji/android/1f310.png?v=ae46c127c1a" title="" /> Updates to the `/world` page

The /world page got a makeover in v4.9.0, showcasing a more timeline-based feel. It more accurately represents the breadth of content available on the open social web, such as microblogging, in addition to long-form text (blogs), media-focused items, and everything in between.

We focused on UX updates to this page:

New sorts are available: You can now view just local content, as well as all known content.
The default sort continues to be "your followers", but also includes local content now as well, because you are also tracking those categories!
Guests were barred from /world in v4.9.0, but this is now opened up again. Their view of the /world page shows only local posts.
The /world page can now be set as a default home page.
Duplicate items were showing up when scrolling down /world (especially on very active timelines)
Uploaded images were showing up in the thumbnail/card headers, even if they were embedded in the post itself. The header is now restricted to topic thumbnails (and post attachments, which only occur with remote posts)
Posts are now height-restricted, so long posts don't take up an inordinate amount of space. A "show more" button is available to expand posts in-timeline.
The "quick create" editor at the top of this page now also lets you choose a category to post to. Administrators can update the default value as desired. It defaults to World/Uncategorized.

<img class="not-responsive emoji" src="https://community.nodebb.org/assets/plugins/nodebb-plugin-emoji/emoji/android/1f4ac.png?v=ae46c127c1a" title="" /> Alt Text now federating outward

Alt text was always supported in NodeBB, but this was not federated outward to remote instances. This is now supported for uploaded images and externally-linked images. Topic thumbnails do not support alt text at this time.

<img class="not-responsive emoji" src="https://community.nodebb.org/assets/plugins/nodebb-plugin-emoji/emoji/android/2196.png?v=ae46c127c1a" title="" /> Soft redirects of remote content

Users unfamiliar with NodeBB were often surprised to see their content cached by NodeBB, despite this being how federation works. In order to reduce surprise, any guest navigating directly to a remote post or remote user will be soft-redirected out to the original source. This goes hand-in-hand with the topic-restriction feature in v4.9.0.

<img class="not-responsive emoji" src="https://community.nodebb.org/assets/plugins/nodebb-plugin-emoji/emoji/android/1f4bb.png?v=ae46c127c1a" title="" /> ActivityPub Outboxes published

For ActivityPub developers, we now publish outboxes as of this version.

<img class="not-responsive emoji" src="https://community.nodebb.org/assets/plugins/nodebb-plugin-emoji/emoji/android/1f5bc.png?v=ae46c127c1a" title="" /> More profile pics!

@baris improved the avatar handling code so that NodeBB now remembers your last three used avatars, allowing you to toggle between them. You will no longer need to upload new pictures if you want to switch between previously-used avatars!

Follow counts better synchronized

@panos@catodon.rocks reported awhile back that follow counts in user pages were off. The logic was updated and should be back in sync with the real values once you follow/unfollow a user.