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What do you think about having a custom URI scheme for the fediverse? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/fediverse

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Since we are in the fediverse, I think it would be convenient to have a fediverse-wide resolvable fediverse URI scheme, that would look like so:

fediverse://

edit: Found a relevant FEP: https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/07d7/fep-07d7.md

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Absolutely not. It should run on HTTP, as a website. Unless you want to build a client which would be somehow fundamentally different from a web browser somehow (note: Lagrange and Gopher Browser are just browsers), which would somehow be able to display data from every use of ActivityPub / "the fediverse" in a different context from a web browser, then no. What we need to build is website software more in line with kbin / mbin, collecting together all the different information of the fediverse into one interface.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

It could continue running on HTTP(S). Did you know browsers and OSs can handle different URL schemas than the ones they natively open (http, https, file, data)? Ever saw a mailto, magnet, ms-word etc. URL schema? They can be opened with an in-browser or native app of your choice, and this has worked for years. Yes, clients would need to be patched for support but that's easy. I would only add "instance's native UI" as a fallback for people coming from outside the fediverse.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Mail clients, torrent clients, and word processors are fundamentally different from browsers. Yes, we can implement their base functions inside a web browser, but that's not their function, or their core UX principle. Also, you forgot NNTP. Thee is no value in moving away from HTTP(S).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

We're not suggesting moving away from the HTTPS protocol. Gmail and other web email apps, as well as Word Online etc. still use HTTPS to communicate with their backend infrastructure. They are just registered in your browser as apps that can handle the mailto:// or ms-word:// URL schema. This registering most likely happens automatically when you have visited a page that supports the schema so fediverse:// links would continue working for Fediverse users - they'd see a prompt to open the link with their home instance's web app (its web interface like the default web UI) or a dedicated web app they are already using like Voyager. What would need to change is just a minor thing: browsers would need to offer the default web UI of target instance as fallback: for example, even if you haven't visited any Fediverse site yet, the link fediverse://lemmy.example.com/post/1337 will show "lemmy.example.com web interface" in the "Open with..." option list, redirecting to https://lemmy.example.com/post/1337.