As a strong supporter of open-source and community-funded projects like Lemmy, which prioritize serving users over investors, I believe Lemmy has significant potential, and that’s why I am here. However, it is clear that its growth is nearing a plateau in its current form. Despite the surge in users following Reddit’s API changes, Lemmy continues to primarily attract tech-savvy individuals, politically left-aligned users, and those accustomed to old Reddit. For Lemmy to reach the broader average general audience, meaningful changes are necessary.

The rise of Bluesky demonstrates the importance of ease of use and a user-friendly design. Its polished and familiar interface is a key reason for its growth and appeal as an alternative to platforms like X/Twitter. This same ease of use is what Mastodon lacked, leading to its initial hype fading quickly. The average user is unlikely to adapt to something that feels complicated or unfamiliar, and this challenge also applies to Lemmy.

As someone who started as an average Reddit user and became more tech-savvy over time, I can confidently say that first impressions matter. When users first visit lemmy.world, the default UI is often enough to discourage them from staying. Most will not explore the homepage sidebar to explore, figure out and switch to one of the alternative UIs available, which is unfortunate because a better UI could make a huge difference.

This is why I propose that large servers like lemmy.world adopt Photon UI as the default web interface. Photon is currently the best and most mature alternative UI, offering a visually appealing, modular design that feels familiar to users of new Reddit. It makes excellent use of screen space and provides customization options like compact and cozy views. Unlike some other alternative UIs, Photon is actively maintained and ready for widespread use, although in no way is it perfect, this can also help bring in more contributors to the project development.

While it is important to continue offering other UIs as options, I believe adopting Photon as the default UI could make Lemmy far more appealing to the average Reddit user. First impressions are crucial, and the current default UI has turned off many potential users. If we want Lemmy to succeed as a true Reddit alternative, we need to prioritize user experience and accessibility. Thankfully today, Lemmy still continues to be THE biggest Reddit alternative, while our userbase is still considerably smaller than Reddit, it’s the biggest of any alternatives, and Lemmy continues to somewhat be in the spotlight for those seeking alternatives, we can’t let growth stagnate, it’s high time we make the platform more welcoming and appealing for the average joe.

EDIT: The image I attached is from photon.lemmy.world, which I just realized is using the outdated version of Photon, I have updated the image to the updated current photon version from phtn.app. There are a lot of improvements made.

  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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    30 minutes ago

    Different OG ex-redditor here. I think Lemmy’s UI is vastly superior. But full disclosure, I used old reddit.

    How is it clear that Lemmy’s growth is nearing a plateau? And why does Lemmy need broader growth? That seems like a solution in search of a problem. A major advantage of not being a corporate social media property is not having to think like one.

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    18 minutes ago

    Photon is dope, pretty sure its developed by our very own Admiral Picard. But I haven’t seen a Lemmy UI that I didnt like yet.

  • morrowind@lemmy.ml
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    2 hours ago

    I think we need to actually do some new user testing, instead of endless discussion with nothing to back it up.

    • dukk@programming.dev
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      46 minutes ago

      Yeah I mean if you really want a UI with no JavaScript you can still use one, it’s really just a case of better defaults here (and I totally agree).

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      1 hour ago

      I think we need many UIs to cater for lots of different types of users and then you just choose the one you want.

      Everyone having to use the same thing is what killed reddit for most of us.

    • moseschrute@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      I disagree. I spent some time earlier this year working on a BlueSky client that would work completely without JavaScript. Working without JavaScript means it has to run on a web server somewhere. Using JavaScript means the client can run entirely on your computer with the only dependency being the Lemmy server you connect to. And since there are many Lemmy servers, this means no single entity that can pull the plug on you.

      The only alternative I see is a native app that runs a non-JS client on your computer, or maybe WebAssembly? Seriously though, modern JavaScript is actually very capable. You might be dismissing it only because it’s popular to hate on JavaScript or maybe the current Lemmy clients aren’t good. That doesn’t mean the underlying issue is JavaScript.

      I’ve abandoned my BlueSky client to work on a Lemmy client that will be written in JS but can run entirely on your computer.

      • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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        2 hours ago

        This is a design flaw. The service that your JS queries can return HTML just as easily as it can return json that gets rendered on the page with JavaScript.

  • Oka@sopuli.xyz
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    4 hours ago

    Lemmy isn’t a UI, it’s just data. Each app that connects to lemmy (not instances in the fediverse, but apps that let you sign into a lemmy account) has their own interface. A person can (and probably has) made an app with a modern interface for lemmy.

    We are not confined to a specific app or interface, anyone can interface with Lemmy and present the data in their own way.

    • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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      4 hours ago

      The most used UI for Lemmy is developed by the Lemmy project. Lemmy UI is modular, but Lemmy is definitely also a UI.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.ml
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        2 hours ago

        I forget people look at Lemmy on desktop/laptops. I just assume everyone has 15 minutes to kill and picks up there phone and opens the app they prefer, that they put on the second screen, 3rd row, 3rd column from the bottom where it belongs. If you have it somewhere else… Well maybe you have 5 columns instead of 4, or are wrong. But never on the first page … that would be obsessive. It has to hide, lurking on that second page laying in wait. For its 15 mins to shine

  • JigglySackles@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Eww. I don’t like that screenshot at all. I vastly prefer the more info dense version I use that looks like classic reddit.

    • TheArstaInventor@lemmy.worldOP
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      3 hours ago

      I mistakenly used the old photon version, I have updated the post with the image of the new current updated version of Photon.

      You can customize photon’s post layout to make it more info dense, even more than the newer image I have attached on the post.

  • warm@kbin.earth
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    5 hours ago

    I don’t use lemmy, so I don’t have to suffer it’s UI. I use Mbin/Kbin and the UI is almost perfect with the settings I changed, I get like 8-9 posts simply laid out with a little thumbnail and the title, no useless features or buttons. Just like old classic reddit, just slightly less compact.

    But this “Photon UI” looks absolutely disgusting, I get it might be how the modern web is, but modern isn’t always a good thing, especially when talking about UI/UX.

  • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org
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    5 hours ago

    While I do favour that UI improvements are needed - in particular for guest views and community sidebars, I’d say defo chasing the “big social” trends and UIs is not the way to go. Heck, I left Reddit partly because of the new UI (I know about old.reddit, it’s just there’s no promise of any kind to maintain it).

  • Ricky Rigatoni@lemm.ee
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    9 hours ago

    You really trying to convince us with a screenshot of the ugliest ui i ever seen huh

    • SkidFace@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      Personally, I think this looks great. I love the command palate and the display modes, and it checks the other boxes, for me at least.

      • TheArstaInventor@lemmy.worldOP
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        3 hours ago

        BTW I actually used an outdated version of Photon on the screenshot, looks like lemmy.world haven’t updated their photon version, I have updated the post with the updated current Photon UI, I think more people will like it. It’s an improvement from the older version.

  • teft@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    Nah, the current UI is fine. We don’t need fancy shit on a link aggregator. Reddit went to shit after “updating” the UI.

    Your opinions of “good” or “best” aren’t the same for everyone.