Some things I'd like to see in #Riposte
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 – 56 views
— by eg
I bought @Riposte (http://itun.es/i6JL8mL) by @jaredsinclair and @jaminguy right away and have been using it as my only A•N client since. I have a few suggestions (and bug reports) that when added/fixed, would make it my "daily driver". Hopefully the authors will see this and include these enhancements in an upcoming revision.
- In-line image previews. This is one thing I really miss from Rivr. (I'm not a fan of the cropped in-line previews used by Felix.)
- An option to display both username and Full Name instead of just one or the other. This is the other big thing I miss from Rivr.
- When copying a link to an A•N post from the share sheet, I'd like to see it in the shorter, canonical
posts.app.net/id format instead of alpha.app.net/username/post/id. (Plus, the canonical form works even if a user changes their username).
- Tapping an
alpha.app.net or a posts.app.net link opens a "web view" instead of a native in-app conversation view.
- When clicking "Load More" to fill a gap in your stream, the unread count banner (which is a nice feature and something I like to see) does not update.
- I don't like the use of the word "Timeline" in the navigation menu (it reminds me of Facebook). Alpha calls it "My Stream".
- When sharing a URL via Mail, I wish the Subject was auto-populated with the web page title instead of being empty.
- The leading in Riposte seems just a bit too loose. I'd like to see it tightened up a bit to make the text a little denser. I posted a side-by-side comparison screenshot with Rivr here.
- I'd like to see a hashtag (#) shortcut key on the compose screen, along with "hashtag completion" for recently used (or seen in your stream) hashtags.
- Speaking of the compose screen, there is no drafts support, and if you accidentally hit the Cancel button, there is no confirmation, you just lose anything you had typed.
- Speaking of hashtags, another thing I miss from Rivr are saved hashtag searches. These are really convenient for keeping up with posts about various topics and finding new people to follow.
- When you hit the "Reply" button, you are prompted with an afterthought-like "Reply" or "Reply All" prompt. I'd prefer two separate icons, or, even better, what Felix does with always "Replying All" and pre-selecting all but the first @-mention so you can just start typing if you don't want to Reply All.
- There should be separate notification control. Right now, push notifications are all-or-nothing. There should be separate options for mentions, follows, stars and reposts.
- I wish there was bookmarking service support. "Read it later" via Pocket and Instapaper is already present, but there are many links that are more appropriate for bookmarking than "reading later". I'd prefer support for @Kippt (and should include list selection support!), although others might prefer Pinboard.
The above probably sounds like a lot of complaining, but that's not my intent. Riposte gets tons of stuff right and I recommend purchasing it. For a 1.0 release, it is not only stable, but has a terrific UI with a lot of great features:
- 1Password support. Not only on the login screen, but also via the in-app web browser (accessed via the share sheet).
- Full screen mode. I love how the UI gets out of the way. I'd even like to see the "New post" icon in the bottom-right go away and simply become another item in the navigation menu.
- Dark mode. I like this a lot in Rivr, and was glad to see it here, although it may be a little too dark. (In the comparison screen shot linked above, you can see Rivr uses more of a "dark grey".)
- Interaction view. This is a very convenient way to see who has starred or reposted your posts.
- Gestures! Not only standard gestures (like swiping left to go to the detailed conversation view) but great cursor-movement gestures in the compose window. Gestures are a much easier form of input than trying to target small buttons or letters.
- Real-time user search from the "@" button in the compose screen is very handy, although I'd prefer for people I already follow to have precedence and always be at the top of list. For example, if I type "ri", the "@riposte" user doesn't even show up in the list—a bunch of users I don't follow do.
- Stream marker support. More and more clients need to do a good job implementing this A•N feature to make it easy to switch between and amongst desktop and mobile apps.
- The "Instapaper mobilizer" view in the built-in web viewer is a welcome addition, although I hope they add more mobilizer options, such as the Clear Read API. Adding some sort of "adblock" support would also be great.
The first release of Riposte is already one of the best App.net clients for iOS, and if @jaredsinclair and @jaminguy can address some of my "wishlist" items, it will only get better!
PS. In case you're wondering, one definition of "riposte" is a quick and clever reply, making it a pretty cool name for an A•N client.
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