Comment on Pixelfed's first plateau in progress
thatsnothowyoudoit@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks agoLike a lot of fediverse experiences - the initial need to pick a server is deeply problematic for new users.
Why pick one server over the other? How do get informed about this choice.
If I take a gamble, then I can’t log in using my mastodon account. Then the login fails with others.
I was happy to persevere, my partner not so much.
The thing is that picking a sever is kind of neat but it’s so tech-centric when it should be community centric. A quick blurb about the community and their vibe/ideology would go a long way. Maybe a quick preview of some random content? Instead we’re playing a guessing game with a url.
But hey, it’s early days and these things will improve because we can all pitch in to help be the change.
Honestly just pick one and use it for a bit. Pick the most popular and learn more about the platform from there. That’s exactly what I did with Lemmy.
I joined lemmy.world first then I liked sh.itjust.works and now I’m on SDF. It took a little bit longer to find the instance I really liked but never stopped me from using Lemmy. Just pick one and use it
I think my point was missed. I was using “I” but my writing was a user story.
I’m talking about why adoption for fediverse platforms falters - especially for those coming from very slick, big money apps with a whole team or teams focused on on-boarding.
IE. It’s not a user-centric experience (yet) - but we also don’t need teams focused on onboarding. Just small tweaks.
The defense of “it’s so easy just pick a server” is getting exhausting.
The average person wants something that works.
It does… Just work… Just pick one… And it works…
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
<Tantacrul>
Okay, are you ready for the pain?
First, we go to pixelfed.org, and click on “Servers.” We are treated to a page that says “Find the perfect community server. Signing up on an existing server is the easiest way to get started, let us help you find the ideal server to join!” This alludes to creating your own pixelfed server, which the vast majority of users are not going to want to do. We’re talking about a public who has been accustomed to downloading an app, opening an account on the app, and having access to all the content in that app. The idea of hosting their own server at this point shouldn’t really be an idea we’re bringing up here.
We tehn get filters for “sign-up process”, because you have to apply for and be approved to some servers, filter by country, and filter by language. I mean, okay. Then we get Server Catagories: All (87) Art (1) General (8) Regional (13) Adult (4) and Uncategorized, (61). I suppose this is more honest than defaulting everyone to “General” but it’s also lazier than a dead house cat. When the vast majority of them are categorized as “Uncategorized” it gives me the feeling that the people running this shitmound don’t care about it, so I absolutely shouldn’t.
Then we get a section called Network Health, which has data that is not pertinent to choosing a server, including total photos shared, total users, active servers, and average users per server. Neat stats I guess, not relevant to choosing a server to sign up on.
The choices of server are a grid of choices that look like this:
Image
The name/URL of the instance is at the top, with an $8 checkmark next to it which is a different glyph from the check marks in the left column talking about all the evil stuff they don’t do, so I think we’re just used to seeing check marks after names on social media, so we put them there. I can’t find one that doesn’t have that check mark so it’s completely meaningless.
Then we get a cover photo, which 9 times out of 10 is a variant on the Pixelfed logo so here’s yet another opportunity to distinguish severs squandered.
Just below that is the name/URL of the server again in a different color, just in case you didn’t read it the first time. This is just 100% wasted space.
Below this is the first 80 characters of a description that was almost certainly written to go somewhere else and has been echoed here. Several of them read “Pixelfed is an image sharing platform, an ethical alternative to centr…” Which must be some kind of default text. Many also use an identical cover image to Pixelfed.social, the instance run by the creators, so I’m assuming this is also a placeholder default. The dead cat is at it again. Those that don’t use the default boilerplate often have a description that starts with their instance name, for example “Pixelfed.art is a community driven platfrorm designed to showcase and c…” So including the cover image, pixelfed.art’s entry contains the string “pixelfed.art” a total of four times, and nearly no other information is conveyed.
Below this is a button that either says “Create Account” in white on bright lilac, or “Apply to Join” in subdued purple on dark purple, which makes the option look greyed out. People will already be unlikely to click there, and the change in shade further discourages people from trying to sign up. I suppose telling you this here in the main directory will prevent “Oh dammit you have to apply to join” but there’s just something wrong with making it look greyed out or unselectable.
There’s another button that says “More Details,” which leads to another very sparse page which shows a large version of the useless and uninformative cover image, information you probably don’t care about like the server location and establishment date, and a link that frustratingly says “More Details.” We just clicked on that, why do you want me to click it again? When you click it, you don’t get more details about the server, it scrolls down to a list of general features of the Pixelfed platform. Marketing cockshit that people’s eyes just glance off of because this is where marketing departments put all the lies.
Oh, did I mention when you click on the uppermost of the many copies of the server name, the top one in white, it takes you to the same place that the More Details button does?
This page promises to help you find the perfect server, and then offers virtually no information that would help a newcomer choose gram.social over pixey.org.
</Tantacrul>
I would suggest removing a lot of the redundant details such as the More Details button and the second copy of the instance’s name below the cover image. That would free up room for a couple more lines of description for each here on the index page.
Eliminate the Uncategorized category, maybe add a few more like “Arts, Crafts and Photography” “Lifestyles and Activities” “Fashion and beauty” “Casual, Food and Pets”. “I want to upload pictures of my cat, which category do I choose?” “I want to promote my paintings. Which category?” “I want to show off my travel pictures.”
Add a text search bar so that people could search by keyword.
As this is a list that instance admins have to apply to be on, I would suggest some requirements and/or heavy suggestions for that process:
Do not allow default boilerplate cover images or descriptions. Make them post something. You’re an image hosting platform, you should be able to find an image the defines your community. !woodworking@lemmy.ca runs contests with their members to pick theirs, I won it once. Do that.
Strongly suggest against using a variant of the Pixelfed logo unless that variant describes what your instance is about. Like if you have a sports-oriented instance, the Pixelfed speech bubble P logo appearing inside a sports ball is more acceptable than a P with “pixelfed.sports” next to it. Better yet, an action shot of a sportsball player making an exciting sportsball play with maybe a logo in the corner.
Require admins to choose a category, to eliminate “Uncategorized.”
For descriptions, provide a style guide that warns against things like mentioning the name of the instance again in the description, and steer away from all the bleeding heart hyphenated marketing wank.
BAD: Example.lol is a community-driven, open-source, cage-free, low-gluten, carbon-offset, high-estrogen, no-pressure, fuel-injected, tax-free, non-mandatory place to share photos.
GOOD: Share photos of your arts and crafts projects with our avid community of painters, woodworkers, blacksmiths, seamstresses and more!
The aim here is to present INFORMATION that can help someone new understand why they should - or should not - sign up for your instance. We’re almost perfectly failing to achieve that.