Talking about using Mastodon in a web browser, not a phone app.

Using the standard web interface is awful for me. It took me embarrassingly long to realize it was showing me replies above showing me what they were replying to… sometimes. Often I can never actually find the post that was being replied to. Can’t find anything in Settings to fix it.

Quickly tried Phanpy and it seems do things right on first glance, but soon I realize that again, I’m being shown replies without being shown the OP. At least I can eventually get to see the OP if I click on two things (first, faded message above reply, then “Go to Top”). Again, can’t find anything in Settings to fix it.

I want something like below, that shows me (with no clicking required) the OPs in reverse chronological order but grouped (with obvious graphical indication like a box, borders or something) with its replies below in chronological order:

  • Original Post 2
    • Reply 2.1
    • Reply 2.2
  • Original Post 1
    • Reply 1.1
    • Reply 1.2

Is there a frontend that does this?

  • klu9@lemmy.caOPEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    Thanks for the in-depth info.

    I’m kind of amazed they released a system that shows replies but not necessarily the OP! But presumably there’s all kinds of technical reasons over my head.

    I’ve installed Subsitoot and am browsing regular Mastodon (not phanpy) with it… and I can’t tell yet if it’s making a difference. I’m still thrown by the bass-ackwards layout.

    OK, I think I get what I have to do now to see the OP of seemingly orphaned replies, and also to see all replies to an OP, below the OP.

    1. Click on a reply (just any random area of the reply text, not on a specific button, took me a while to work that out)
    2. Scroll up (again, took me a few goes to work that out, as it often places that reply at the top of the screen)
    3. Click on the top post (again, random area, not a specific button)

    That finally shows me both the OP, at top, and all replies, below.

    So, a bit of a palaver but doable. Thanks! Hopefully, future versions of Mastodon will make getting posts and displaying them properly grouped in the main timeline easier.