4.4 KiB
Relatica User Manual
Introduction
[Friendica(https://friendi.ca/) is a free and open source decentralized social network project that allows users and/or organizations to create a social network server that operates with a similar sort of user experience idiom as Facebook (posts/comments threads, groups, etc). It interacts with software projects like Mastodon (a Twitter-like decentralized social network), PixelFed (an Instagram-like decentralized social network), and PeerTube (a YouTube-like decentralized social network) to create a web of interacting users and content that combined create a network of millions of users across thousands of servers called "the fediverse" or "social web". Elena Rossini has created this great video to help describe this concept in a very approachable way.
The Friendica project itself is solely focused on the development of the server side software. It does not host any "main" instance. All Friendica hosts are independent. At the time of this writing there are approximately 80 "public" servers in the Friendica directory site from which users can choose to join. The Fediverse Observer statistics site shows over 280 active Friendica servers on the fediverse, hosting thousands of users writing millions of posts/comments each month.
The Friendica project also does not write any client side software for mobile/desktop devices. Instead it has implemented application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow independent projects to interface with the server software programmatically. There have been other independent mobile apps that can interface with Friendica. Some projects have even targeted Friendica directly for Android. At the beginning of this project there was no project for iOS however.
Relatica represents an independent development to develop a mobile and desktop client for Friendica that will allow users to interface with Friendica servers that they have accounts on. It will allow them to create/edit/delete posts, take pictures to upload, check notifications on posts they've written, basically most of the usual types of things that one likes to do with Friendica or any other social network. By "independent" I mean that the project is not a part of nor receives any official sanction from the Friendica project itself.
Document Overview
This manual is a brief tour of various common features of the Relatica Friendica client and how to use them. Many of the features are self explanatory and common for a social network application. Many of the workflows follow the same paradigm that the main Friendica website uses. Others are more unique and/or configurable. This manual attempts to make those features and/or workflows more clear.
Unique Features
- Slow network assistance: Low Bandwidth mode and request timeout controls
- Focus Mode
- Non-infinite scroll
- Filters
- Per Network Capabilities Management
Tabs
Timelines
Timeline Types
- My Posts
- My Network
- Global Fediverse
- Local Fediverse
- Circles
- Groups
- Channels
Post/Comment actions
- Clicking on a post
- Popup menu
- Open post (same as clicking on it)
- Show Likers
- Show Reshares
- Block User
- Report Post/Comment
- Open in Browser
- Copy URL
- Copy Post Text
Notifications
Contacts
Explore
Searching
Trending
- Global Tags
- Local Tags
- Statuses
- Links
Followed Tags
Suggested Users
Drawer Menu
Profile Management
Focus Mode
Gallery Viewing/Management
Direct Messages
Blocks
Filters
Circles Management
Settings
Low Bandwidth Mode
Network Request Timeout
Group Notifications by Type
Spoiler/Content Warning Hiding
Confirm Reporting Prompt
Open Tags in App
Dark Mode Theme Setting
Clear Local Caches
Logging (Setting Level and Viewing)
Network Capabilities
Moderation
Reporting Posts/Comments
- No API method for doing reports so must be done in Friendica UI proper
- Workflow for report
- Menu item
- Confirm (user configurable)
- iOS Launches WebView with the post/comment highlighted
- Android?