this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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Boost For Lemmy
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Okay, I gave it a solid six hour test drive. There's a lot to like, but I gotta abe honest I'm still not loving it. I don't like that the nav bar is permanently stickied to the bottom, and I can't find a way to move it. Even on the android beta mode, I don't like that the icons are still iPhone themed, and I wish the color theming was more pronounced. I also wish you could re-tap to blur NSFW like you can in connect/thunder/eternity (probably my favorite feature in social scrolling apps). I do like that you can block communities with a long press but in my short testing I found it to be buggy - sometimes it works and sometimes it just vibrates but nothing happens - and I wish it was just an option in the three dots menu instead.
Despite the gripes, it is very slick though and I can see why people like it. I really like the sync-esque (though much less aggressive) use of negative space between posts, and the layout has a nice subtly to it that I think looks much nicer than Connect, on par with eternity. I'll be the first to admit that of the major apps Ive used (Thunder, Connect, Jerboa, Voyager, Eternity, sync) Connect's post layout is bottom three, but in terms of ease of use, quick navigation, and feature density it's my favorite, which is why I prefer it. I also like that in voyager, some lesser used options are a little shrunk/out of the way (like post sorting). It can be harder to find at first but options you won't touch often should be less pronounced IMO, and voyager does that really well. I didn't get any push notifications so I can't weigh on on how well that stuff works. Also the icon choices are FUCKING SWEET. I legit might steal one to use on my homepage.
I'm also waiting for boost! Really hoping they haven't abandoned ship on it, feels like they might've given up. That last UI update for boost before the shutoff was SO DOPE, and it always was my favorite Reddit App. Honestly I think I like connect because it's the most like boost. Nowhere near as polished, but almost every UI/interactive option is in the same spot or executed the same as it was on boost, so it feels the most intuitive to me.
Nice writeup! Glad you liked it even tho it won't be your daily driver. Post layout is the most important to me and that's why I dig Voyager a lot. Not much comes close. Also I can't stand small jitter when scrolling and I have that on most other apps except Sync, but I can't use that app with the (imo) horrible monetization choices. Let's all hope Boost does a lot right when the Rocket actually arrives!