Fediverse

I switched Lemmy instances in part because lemmy.ml doesn't have the old.lemmy (mlmym) interface available. For a while, mlmym had an official standalone site that could be used to access any Lemmy instance in the mlmym interface, but once they shut that down I was disappointed in going back to the standard Lemmy web UI that doesn't stretch to use your entire screen width. I used some userscripts to make it better but finally ended up moving to lemmy.today because they run mlmym on old.lemmy.today.

It's basically the old Reddit interface and that's how I viewed Reddit for 12+ years, on desktop and on phone. Also, the mlmym/old Lemmy interface actually fits better on portrait phone screens than old Reddit as it hides the sidebar.

I hate Reddit's awful card UI. I don't want giant pictures everywhere. Let me read the headlines and then click to expand if I want. The overly media heavy Times Square looking overstimulation of modern web design is atrocious.

Something I hadn’t considered to possibly be generational. When I was on Reddit, it was always old Reddit. I can’t imagine anyone using card view, I thought maybe that existed for iPads or devices with large screens.

I also don’t see appeal in instagram or TikTok like the author though as well.

I don’t necessarily get the consideration of “decision fatigue”. If you chose not to decide you still have made a choice. The choice then of allowing the app to just show you whatever can’t really be put on decision fatigue in my opinion.

Millennial here. I’ve been consuming Reddit, and now Lemmy, almost exclusively on my phone and for me it’s card view all the way. Often the graphic content is more important than the title and opening posts only to find out it’s not funny or interesting feels like a waste of time. Only when I find a post interesting enough that I want to comment or see the comments, I open it. Instances or communities that I don’t like go on the blocklist.

If I really need to use Reddit, I open old Reddit in the browser with an extension that turns it into a mobile friendly site with card view. The new design has always felt sluggish and bloated to me, but not because of the card view.

This seems very anecdotal. It would be interesting to see some numbers on how different age groups interact with different UI types.

In my experience, most people prefer "card" view type interfaces. Most popular sites I can think of at the top of my head are like this. Instagram shows you a picture. Facebook you default see a post until it is truncated. New Reddit is like this as well. Twitter shows just a small post, and you can view threads that way too.

Even old sites that had list views tended to get more popular when you get a card view, like Reddit.

I'm not sure if it's generational.

this is dumb, you still have to parse info either method of interacting with the site, its just slightly diffrent, some people can just filter out info they care less about a little better. if anything has to do with the so called divide between generations (i always call bullshit on this, people are far to complex to be put in these boxes) it may have to do with how people first started interacting with the internet. people who have been interacting with the internet for longer may be more accustomed to the fourm style of website, where as people who started using the internet on their phone may be more accustomed to the app style layout. it mostly boils down to learned ways of interacting in online spaces, not how old you are in my opinion.

When Lemmy came around, I didn't stop using Reddit.

steps aside to dodge rotten tomato

I saw a new place to go visit and explore, and I haven't been given a reason to leave. I actually post more here than Reddit because the conversations feel more genuine, but I still browse both. No reason not to.

Maybe it's just because I had taken classes on web design in the late 90's, early 2000's, but I hate the current Reddit design because they absolutely ignore all of the basic design rules. The most egregious is wasted space.

Like, I get it; modern shit is more commonly viewed on a phone, being held vertically. That doesn't prevent you from having a widescreen format for regular fucking screens or phones held horizontally. I can not stand having all the content squeezed into the center, leaving big open spaces with absolutely nothing in them on the margins of the page.

I haven’t spoken to very many people about this

Obviously not. I, a millennial prefer the "new" design. I can subscribe to communities and subreddits with already is a good way to filter content. I don't have to look at everything that gets thrown at me. Also I do not have to be scared there is a hidden ad somewhere inbetween like when using Instagram or whatever.

I also really liked the forums from the bronze age, but those were text-based at the post level, while Lemmy also supports images and links (including thumbnails).

honestly i'm not even sure how the author of this managed to boil down feed UI preferences into "questions" or "options" or whatever. all of the same content is there, it's just a matter of if it's expanded or collapsed by default- merely information density. what it really comes down to is older sites collapsed things by default, newer sites expand things by default, and most people like whatever they grew up with. i'm gen z and much prefer the older style just because i was on forums and old reddit right around when my peers opened their twitter and instagram accounts. there is definitely a discussion to be had there about which format is healthier and why companies prefer the latter format these days, but to skim right past that into the bit about third parties makes me think that was the real point the author wanted to make and contorted their UI argument to get there