Nostr Web Client

Amazing first release, wow! I've been waiting for something like this.

Graphically already quite pleasing as well.

One thing I don't really understand is the heavy focus on features that the apps in the browser specialize in, instead of leaning completely into the unique value prop of this app. Onboarding, key management, payments and customised app discovery is what I would personally fully specialise in.

Displaying "Popular" and "Trending" notes, highlights, profiles might be great to have something to show people in the app for now. What I would like to see more and more are things like:

- app recommendations and filtering based on my profile lists (f.e. dvm's my Following list use, Note taking apps my list of "Writers" use, ...)

- onboarding and helping newcomers see the "one keypair, infinite apps"

aspect of nostr you seem to be in ideal place for

- ways to organize/categorize apps, select them as favorite (NIP-89)

Also I think just one Navbar suffices. Seems like everything would fit.

Great job man. Would love to contribute (logo, UI, ...).

brugeman 2y ago

Amazing feedback Niel, thank you!

The logo does need a lot of work indeed 😉

The upper navbar has space reserved for at least a couple more icons (wallets, relays), and the bottom one too (tab switcher, tab reactions). I honestly really want to have just a single navbar, but can't come up with a good way to achieve that. Maybe if we discover that most of those buttons aren't really used often then we'd fold them...

The graph-based app recommendations are definitely coming, right now the density of the app usage graph is just not good enough to make anything interesting.

I also have doubts about the idea that people really do need advanced app categorization. NIP-89 should allow us to reduce the need for app categorization - you'd browse content and discover apps contextually when you're viewing/creating/editing some event kind. At least that's the theory.

You're asking a great question of 'what's the focus of this thing? what's the problem it's solving?' I honestly don't have much of a clear answer. Just like nostr itself, it seems to try to solve too many interconnected problems. We'll try to figure things out as we go, so thank you for your perspective, noted!

We tried to avoid focusing on the duties of apps - the content section is very light and is just an invitation to dive into one of the apps. We could just fill the whole screen with app icons, but that's so boring and identical to your existing static smartphone screen... Nostr's data portability is one of the key features, allowing you to have a dashboard of most interesting things happening across the apps. What do you think?

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Discussion

Niel Liesmons 2y ago

Great how people appreciate feedback so much on nostr!

Thanks about the navbar update, a double one seems neede then indeed. And it's still early for NIP-89 but in my mind you could be a great guiding force.

For app categorization I meant that in a personal way. As in, the user makes his own folders of apps (Bitcoin Wallets, Social, Writing, ...) as is very commonly done on mobile home screens already. Given the gazzillion new apps every week, this will be needed, for me at least ;)

"a dashboard of most interesting things happening across the apps" is the goal indeed, but if I take inspiration again from android and iOS this might maybe be better handled by an open standard for widgets? Of which you can build the first ones. That way the user can build a custom nostr dashboard.

(And someone like me that is fed up with seeing all the same Trending stuff, all the time, everywhere and doesn't think it has that much signal can just avoid all that).

(I'll maybe draw some stuff up later that came to mind)

brugeman 2y ago

Thorough feedback is worth appreciation!

Yeah we'll keep pushing nip-89 forward w/ nostrapp.link and the Spring browser. App reviews coming soon btw.

App categorization/folders for the homescreen is a great idea, thank you!

Re. an open standard for widgets - our plan is to make homescreen completely customizable with ability to setup any number of 'feeds' (essentially relay+filters), with a nip for a 'feed' representation. Widgets are an even more general concept, will keep it in mind for the future. What kind of widgets would you find valuable, aside from various feeds?

Do you think nostr.band's 'trending' aren't much of a signal? Do you think they have some visible flaws, or is it just that they're 'everywhere' and thus annoying?

Will be very grateful for any graphical input from you!

Niel Liesmons 2y ago

https://void.cat/d/BhZZDG68E5VMfXwsyMuM7b.webp

1. With some clever use of the search bar (difference between clicking and typing) I still think you can make it with one Navbar.

2. I started playing around with my own version a bit here: https://w3.do/OD6aT9j4

3. Customizable homescreen plans sound great. None-feed type widgets are indeed not easy to imagine, no revelations there for now.

4. Nostr.band is an awesome tool. I just personally don't like displaying the most "globally" trending things for onboarding, home screens etc, when no filter is applied. Curation with good filters (profile lists, dvm's, relays as communities, ...) is what can really set nostr apart in many ways, but it might be a bit too early.

brugeman 2y ago

Thank for this awesome input, Niel! Some feedback:

1. I love your push for a single navbar. Especially when the tab is open (to leave more space for the tab content). I think that in-tab navbar should be in the footer though - top one is harder to reach, bottom is much more convenient to tap fast to, say, switch between tabs. We will play with this idea on our end. And yes, your use of the search bar is quite smart, noted!

2. Great futuristic design! Although I hesitate to call this thing Portal, which is defined as 'the gate', and people here don't like gates :) And I still think the central part of the browser should be dedicated to content, not app icons. Do you think our app drawer sucks? Won't scale? Inconvenient? Or you just don't think content should take the central stage?

3. Yes I think being able to build custom content dashboard might be a very important unique feature of Nostr. Although generic widgets are an interesting direction too - imagine those were micro-micro-apps living right there on the homescreen...

4. Agree, well said.

Thank you!