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What I like about dev.to... and what I dont (DEP 0)

Yaser Al-Najjar on August 22, 2018

What is DEP? As we have PEP in the python community (Python Enhancement Proposal), it might be a nice idea to have some DEPs (Dev Enhanc...
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sudiukil profile image
Quentin Sonrel

If you really want emojis: browsernative.com/chrome-emoji/ . On a side note, I do believe that emojis should be an OS/browser side functionality rather than a website one... I mean, since emojis are now part of how we all communicate on the web, implementing emojis on every service is just as dumb as if every site implemented a keyboard to type words.

For the native app, even though I don't wish one myself (I never come here on a mobile device), I don't see why it would be a bad thing, if you don't want one, just don't use it (when it'll be here).

As for the rest, it's nice of you to suggest improvements for dev.to, but since it went open source recently, don't you think there would be better ways to do so? :)

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Yaser Al-Najjar • Edited

Since when in the UX world you tell the users to install an extension on their browsers to use emojis :D

As for the native app read in the comment above plz.

since it went open source recently, don't you think there would be better ways to do so? :)

Ah... I saw that comin', and let's be a bit transparent about it:

Dev is the dream of the three folks: Ben, Jess, and Peter. They make the profits out of their dream (all happy for them), and we are the users of their platform. We all have dreams, like I do make my own coding academy: coretabs.net (totally open-source: github.com/coretabs-academy/websit...), and a handful of other projects: github.com/coretabs

If I would write something to improve their dream (for-free), I would do it for a tool/component that I might get benefit from like: Dapper ORM used in Stackoverflow or their fast Redis client, but not for stackoverflow website itself ;)

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Quentin Sonrel

I'm not saying telling users to install a browser extension is a good thing, just that the "emojis on websites" problem is a wider problem than a per-website issue. Also I believe the dev.to team are OSX users, they might be a little biased towards emojis with their super futuristic OS that supports emojis πŸ˜‹ (that IS a joke, do not hit me πŸ˜‡)

As for the last part, I was not asking you to contribute, I was just saying that the GitHub issues might be a better place to submit some of your ideas (like the simpler UI, and, for the record, I do agree with this one, at least partly) than a post here... because it will sink eventually and might never get the visibility an issue would have had.

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Yaser Al-Najjar

GitHub issues might be a better

Ah... I get it, thanks for elaborating!

Well, Github issues are good but IMO for reporting, not for discussions (at least for dev.to cuz here feels a bit better for discussing).

And yeah I agree on your point, I was just a bit lazy to take that point separately into github :D

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Mihail Malo

πŸ’©

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Meghan (she/her) • Edited

If you're on Windows you can hit "Windows Key + ." and it will bring up an emoji picker. 😎

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sudiukil profile image
Quentin Sonrel

If you're on Windows

😁

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Ben Halpern

I can pretty much get behind everything you're saying. A couple things worth commenting on the "hope not to see" front:

Native iOS/Android/Whatsoever app

If you look at the approach we're currently taking, any native experience is basically going to be a pretty simple web wrapper. Apple's PWA story is really really lacking right now, so we're building towards a basic native-ish experience, but really low-touch.

We're not trying to re-implement views or any complex app logic, basically present the app natively and possibly hook into some native functionality for a few specific augmentations if it seems relevant.

So on the same page there.

Job platform

Same here. I agree 100% with you, the thing is: We already have a sort of job platform under the hood. We have the concept built in to your settings that you can opt in and opt out of certain job functionality. We totally hate this kind of direction you are describing and that's why (even though it's fairly experimental), you don't really even know this functionality exists unless you opt in.

There is one state in which someone might feel excited about a job opportunity: When they are looking for a job!!!

Some other platforms really miss the point here.

I think the best thing we do as an org/platform is care about the nuances of some of this stuff. We don't get everything right, but we try to be thoughtful.

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Yaser Al-Najjar

simple web wrapper
basic native-ish experience, but really low-touch

Ah... I love that!
Hope it will never go through any different burdensome path ;)

We totally hate this kind of direction you are describing and that's why
you don't really even know this functionality exists unless you opt in
one state: When they are looking for a job

Love that way of thinking again!

care about the nuances of some of this stuff

IMO, that's why dev continues to be a non-stop growing platform... plz keep that up ❀️

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Quentin Sonrel • Edited

That's simple:

  • "heart" means you like that!
  • "unicorn" means you like that... more... maybe. Or you just like unicorns!
  • "bookmark" is when you... like... ok I give up.

Jokes aside, the "heart" is nothing more than a like button and the "bookmark" one is nice for people who haven't heard of Pocket (again, joking... last one, promised). As for the unicorn, I simply see it as a fun bit, not everything has to be 100% useful πŸ˜€

The three dots are side features (link, Twitter share and abuse report).

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ItsASine (Kayla)

"bookmark" is when you... like... ok I give up.

Bookmarking actually does bookmark the article for later on your account's reading list.

Mine's pretty perpetually full of stuff... which is why I'm now coming back to this article!

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Sergey Kislyakov

Why a native app would be buggy and have to be updated every couple of days?

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Yaser Al-Najjar • Edited

There is always a technical debt for every repo you start, every software you write, and every small idea you wanna apply.

It's a burden that the dev team will have (for two extra repos: iOS & Android), and bugs will surely occur, and they gotta fix it.

Why shattering the focus on the iOS & Android & web, while the PWA gives you an accessible auto-updating app for the same platforms with writing only ONE web app.

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Michael "notriddle" Howell

On Windows, hit the Win+. chord to get a pop-up dialog, complete with search, to pick an emoji. I think macOS has something similar.

... though I'm tempted to say that DEV should have its own emoji set, just to make sure that everybody on the site has the same ones ...

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Abdur-Rahmaan Janhangeer • Edited

Some thoughts (btw happy to see a python guy here)

  • that upload link thing i think is one of the points that make dev.to unique.
  • that left pane, same throws in some niceness
  • yes that job things sometimes spoil the fun
  • i accidentally clicked one button and i followed 50 people, that i think can be removed
  • the dep structure can be removed

btw i see peps inspire lots of people, i know people who use it in biz in internal projects!

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Avalander

I actually like the unicorns and use them for stuff I really like, but that's just because I like unicorns in general.

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Slavius

I always thought that the heart means you like the article (or want to show some love for it or its author) and the unicorn that you find it a unique gem you don't see every day - just like unicorns (not that I've ever seen one...).

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Avalander

That reasoning makes sense.

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rhymes

Me too

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Juan F Gonzalez

To answer your question I like much better the left picture in the comparison of homescreens

 
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Yaser Al-Najjar • Edited

Actually it's related to the design time of dev "ah what are we gonna make... like button or heart or clap?", and then the unicorn came up :D

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v6 profile image
πŸ¦„N BπŸ›‘

πŸ¦„

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v6 profile image
πŸ¦„N BπŸ›‘

πŸ¦„