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.

  • mystik@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    3 hours ago

    /me pines for the days of protocol over interface. NNTP + killfiles were the bees knees. Then we could just all pick our own interface to connect to any lemmy host.

  • teft@lemmy.worldEnglish
    302·
    3 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.

  • MudMan@fedia.io
    13·
    8 hours ago

    I’m on Fedia. It’s pretty solid, UI-wise. I actually find it more usable than Reddit and its terrible way of trimming down threads by default.

    What I’ve seen of Lemmy does seem a bit messier to read, though.

    • bacon_saber@fedia.io
      3·
      3 hours ago

      Yeah that’s the Mbin UI in general as opposed to Lemmy’s. Mbin is definitely taking its own approach UI-wise.

      • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
        1·
        2 hours ago

        I love that the compact mode fills out the thumbnails, no unnecessary extra padding to waste space and make them smaller.

  • kinther@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    5 hours ago

    I personally really dislike new reddit and the Photon theme. I’d say no to any change to my main instance.

  • chillinit@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    1210·
    8 hours ago

    For Lemmy to reach the broader average general audience

    Fucking capitalists will enshitify this also.

    • TheArstaInventor@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      102·
      8 hours ago

      How will they? A new UI adaptation won’t change the fact that Lemmy is community-run, federated/decentralized and not owned by a corporation?

        • neatchee@lemmy.worldEnglish
          74·
          7 hours ago

          That’s quite a novel way of saying “I don’t know what enshitification is actually about, nor do I understand why broad adoption is critical for protecting the long-term existence of community maintained software”. Kudos on your creativity!

          Seriously though, “keeping good things small for the sake of keeping them free of interference by capitalist interests” is misguided. Quite the contrary, leaving a large audience on the table is a surefire way to guarantee that an opportunistic capitalist will capture that market and drive community maintained options into obscurity.

          • chillinit@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
            37·
            7 hours ago

            That’s quite a novel way of saying, “I don’t know what capitalism is actually about, nor do I understand why broad adoption destroys individual choices.”

            Kudos on your capitalism. Hopefully, we don’t extend our violent means to neoliberals.

            • Womble@lemmy.worldEnglish
              4·
              7 hours ago

              Yeah, its sad that wikipedia becoming one of the biggest sites in the world turned it into a over monetised hellscape, but that’s just what happens inevitably when you grow big, the capitalists get you.

              • chillinit@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
                12·
                6 hours ago

                So, why in the everliving fuck would anyone rationalize a UI change with appeal to a broader audience?

                Even after all this time very few seem to understand what happened between hexbear and almost all other instances: They didn’t want neoliberal drivel to destroy what they’d built. They even made the vast majority think it their own idea to leave them alone.

                • Womble@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  1·
                  6 hours ago

                  I agree on the UI front, making things more like reddits awful new ui is just a bad idea. Just that your premise for justifying that is wrong.

  • 1984@lemmy.todayEnglish
    11·
    3 hours ago

    Bluesky looks like old Twitter and was even “created” by the former head of Twitter.

    It’s not surprising such a guy knows how to succeed.

    Lemmy could use a face-lift, sure, but since Lemmy is largely centralized now with Lemmy.world, I’m not sure I care so much about it. It was more fun when Lemmy was started and we had a dream of an distributed network of interesting instances. That didn’t happen and like-minded instances shut off federation with the others.

    It’s like children in a sandbox. “That guy said this, I will tell on the teacher”.

    • Alphane Moon@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 hours ago

      Isn’t the ability to defederate a key point of having federation in the first place?

      I personally do want to see word salad from supporters of russian genocidal imperialism and or the CCP.

    • Kichae@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      3 hours ago

      The fediverse really is best viewed as a local-first space. Everything just works better if your primary focus is on the people or communities on your local instance. But people keep trying to think of it as primarily about the space in between, because that’s what’s novel.

      But most people do not give a shit about that novelty, and we “market” it terribly.

      “Lemmy” doesn’t exist like Reddit does. It’s not a place people can go to talk about shit. It’s a website engine. It exists like WordPress does. One of its features just happens to be “can pull content from other websites”.

      If we want this space to grow, we need to focus on building community websites that stand on their own. Then we can market it as “hey, you love it here on MyInterest.social, but did you know you can also talk to people from SomethingElse.social? Pretty cool, huh??!?” Nobody seems to want to do that, though. That means we’re totally at the mercy of places like Twitter and Reddit, waiting for them to fuck up badly again and hoping more people just kind of land here, in some cheap and uncanny knockoff of where they really wanted to be.

      • Blaze (he/him)@feddit.orgEnglish
        1·
        2 hours ago

        community websites that stand on their own.

        Nobody seems to want to do that, though.

        Languages-focused instances like feddit.org or jlai.lu are quite good at this. Aussie.zone is also good, their daily threads are very active.

  • ubergeek@lemmy.todayEnglish
    4·
    3 hours ago

    I literally hate the new reddit UI, as do most peeps I’ve spoken with…

    The new reddit UI is designed to push ads, and push premium subs.

      • TachyonTele@lemm.eeEnglish
        21·
        5 hours ago

        I’ve only used it on mobile. I don’t know what the desktop looks like. But i like the smaller font. It’s more “crisp” than the default UI.

      • TachyonTele@lemm.eeEnglish
        21·
        5 hours ago

        Yeah. I haven’t used it in a few months, but i did use it for a long time. I like it.

        I believe it’s still missing moderation tools, but I could be wrong. Im not sure which update it’s at now.

  • fxomt@lemm.eeEnglish
    32·
    8 hours ago

    As much as i love photon, i don’t think it should be the default. The default lemmy ui is pretty slick and lightweight, even if it is kind of bad. Photon can be sluggish, and overwhelming for some.

    I think they should just improve the default UI (which they are currently), and leave it for the user to decide.

    • TheArstaInventor@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1516·
      8 hours ago

      People who prefer old Reddit often say the same thing about new Reddit. While old Reddit, or in this case a barebones, simpler UI, is lightweight and “slick,” the reality is that if we want Lemmy to grow beyond its current base of tech-savvy users, we need to consider a different perspective, one that focuses on the needs and expectations of the average user.

      For example, despite old Reddit being lighter and having its loyal supporters, 80 to 90 percent of users still prefer new Reddit. As someone who used to moderate on Reddit, I can confirm that the majority of traffic came from new Reddit, even though old Reddit was still available. This highlights how a more modern and user-friendly interface is often what appeals to the majority.

      From my personal experience as someone who primarily used new Reddit, Photon feels far more intuitive and familiar compared to the default Lemmy UI. That said, I am not claiming Photon is perfect. However, considering that most alternative UIs are currently niche and their development relies heavily on a small group of contributors, Photon stands out as a mature and robust option.

      While it is encouraging to see Lemmy’s developers working on improving the default UI, the project is still in its early stages and may or may not succeed. Why start from scratch or bet on something that is just beginning development when we already have a well-developed alternative like Photon? By adopting Photon as the default, we can take advantage of an existing solution that is in good shape, has significant potential, and can continue to improve with more widespread adoption and contributions.

      This approach would ensure that Lemmy becomes more accessible and appealing to the average user, while still leaving room for users to choose other UIs if they prefer. First impressions matter, and adopting a polished and familiar UI could make all the difference in attracting and retaining new users.

      BTW those who want to can still change to alternative UIs, nothing will stop them from doing so.

      • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.caEnglish
        5·
        3 hours ago

        Not sure where you’re getting that 80 to 90 percent figure, but most users being on new reddit is not at all a reflection of preference, it’s of new being the default option

      • Apytele@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        121·
        8 hours ago

        Also that lack of polish reads as sketchy to a lot of people with only basic tech literacy. I’ve had trouble getting other Healthcare workers to join and they always look at me sideways when they first glance at the layout. I actually agree that making something slicker looking the default would pull more normies without having to sacrifice a customizable interface for the people with enough know-how that they’re probably already modding it anyway. A big part of reddit for me was commiserating about my Healthcare job and while some of us are tech literate a lot just… aren’t.

      • fxomt@lemm.eeEnglish
        61·
        8 hours ago

        I also prefer the new (new-old, the current one sucks) reddit UI and love photon, and i don’t think it’s too far fetched of an idea to want it as the default UI. I think it should be left to instances, so for example, lemmy.world could use photon for the default, yet lemmy.ml could use the default lemmy UI.

        I’m still a little concerned over first impressions of a new lemmy user, when they try to use lemmy.world on a weak device, and realize it is slow, or laggy, and could sour their opinion on lemmy as a whole. A non tech savvy user might not completely understand the idea of lemmy, or clients, or even instances. They’d just blindly choose lemmy.world and assume that’s the “main” instance. (I also could just be underestimating the average user’s intelligence, lol.)

        That’s why i brought up performance as a main point to why we should keep the current lemmy UI. Maybe if photon is optimized and is more stable, i could completely agree that it should be the default.