I keep hearing of people who have used Lemmy for a few days or a few weeks and want to start using a mobile version – often Voyager.

They open Voyager for the first time, and get a screen with a button for logging in. They get a choice for which Lemmy instance to join, but no place for entering their existing username or password.

I’ve told them that “in the first screen there is a button that is very difficult to notice, allowing you to use a pre-existing Lemmy username. Find that semi-hidden button, click it, and you can login.”

It is of course a working workaround to pre-emptively tell people that the button exists, is just very well hidden, and needs to be clicked by most people who download Voyager. But still, it would be cool if the screen for new users could be altered so that the ability to log in with a pre-existing username was equally visible as the choice to create a new account!

  • fubarxEnglish
    2·
    1 day ago

    [ Sorry for the wall of text. Can move it to GH Issues, if easier. ]

    I sorta agree with the OP’s feedback. Not sure if this is the way Apollo did it or is custom to Voyager. Either way, it could use some streamlining to help users.

    From personal experience… was recently unable to login to an instance. Already had an account on a different server. Went to log out of the existing (malfunctioning) account to troubleshoot the problem, then log back in.

    Could not figure it out.

    Ended up deleting the account then re-adding it in. Was nerve-wracking since the Delete button wasn’t clear if it meant ‘forgetting’ account on Voyager, or ‘deleting’ it entirely on server (see below). Went ahead. Even that took multiple clicks: Profile > Accounts > Edit > Delete.

    Went through the same scenario posted by OP to log back in. Ended up mistakenly going to ‘Other,’ which tried to get me to create an account. Nooo. Backtrack. Find the right link, go in, then login again. Phew!

    I can see how it could be confusing for people new to the app.

    So instead of just whining, here’s a suggested list of user path ways. Offered in the spirit of trying to be helpful. Please feel free to ignore. Not a React person (more of a Vue fan) otherwise I’d add these myself and do a PR.

    A lot of this functionality already exists. It’s just a matter of making it easier for a user to access it with as few taps as possible:

    [Side note: be nice if there was a way to indent/dedent lists in the comment editor 😬]

    1. Register:
    • Offer pre-selected server. Buttons with:
      • Refresh or dice icon: loads a different random server.
      • Filter icon (optional): shows all candidate servers (filter based on user choices: location (country of origin), keywords/tags, number of members, etc)
      • List button: Ordered list of all servers

    Select one, go to individual server register page. When done, go to All page for current account.

    Feature creep: allow user to add a little note reminding themself what the server is for. For example server A is for business, server B is for hobby, etc. Show description whenever showing accounts. Allow editing description somewhere sensible.

    Extra, extra feature creep: allow user to select color and icon for account, then make it super easy to switch accounts. Under reddit, lots of people had aliases and apps made it easy to toggle (even on a per-post or per-comment basis).

    1. Login:
    • Popup list of existing accounts currently under Profile > Accounts list.
      • Enter password.
    • Or… Section with:
      • Pick from filtered list of servers (same as above)
      • Pick from ordered list of all servers (same as above)
      • Enter server name manually
    • Enter username / password or go to server login page.

    Be nice if there was an icon showing account is logged in vs not. This way, you could easily toggle back and forth between multiple logged in accounts.

    1. Logout:
    • Confirm, done.
    • If you have other accounts, go to account picker page.
    • Logout could also leave item in list of accounts but show that it’s not ‘active.’
    • If no accounts, go back to Register / Login page (above)

    Suggest adding Logout as a single, Red item under Settings. Could also have in Profile tab, in an obvious place (another item under list of actions?), again, in red. Confirm, done.

    To support fast account switching, may want to make logout change state of account, and Forget/Delete to edit the list.

    1. Forget:
    • Show list of accounts, with a red trash icon next to each one.
    • Confirm. Remove from list of accounts.
    • Forgetting also logs out, so same path as above.

    This should make clear that it logs out and removes from list of accounts, but does NOT delete on server.

    1. Delete (locally and on server):
    • Not sure if Lemmy API allows this.
    • If so, then list of accounts with red X icon.
    • Confirm, maybe double-confirm, delete. Removes from account list.
    • Or take to server delete page.
    • If confirmed, delete local profile as well.

    Optional Account-related extras:

    1. Migrate

      • Create new account, then migrate from logged-in other.
        • Overwrite existing account settings (confirm, since destructive)
        • Merge with existing account (confirm, since not easily reversible)

    2. Reset:

    • Factory resetting to a fresh new logged in account state.
    • Could ask what to reset/purge: Comments, Saves, Posts, or All.
    • Confirm, maybe double, since not reversible.
    1. Export / Import account settings:
    • Downloadable bundle.
    • For migrating to a fresh new device, in case OS account migration doesn’t work.

    Like I said, happy to move this elsewhere or take discussion elsewhere if not clear.

    FWIW, Voyager is the main reason I’m sticking around Lemmy. Discovering it was the happiest thing to come out of leaving reddit.