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While I'm throwing out ideas I probably won't have the time or energy to implement, I had an idea for a user-friendly Gemiverse "experience" for non-technical users. Basically, something that reduces the complexity of having a Gemini capsule and following others to… not as simple as having a Facebook or Twitter, but probably as simple as having a Medium or a Substack. The idea came to me while I was falling asleep.
It is not *that* unlike flounder¹ or Midnight Pub², but I think the differences are interesting.
This is the main thing: a cross-platform native app that provides several things:
1. Registration and authentication with a cooperating host.
2. A fully-featured Gemini browser.
3. A client-side Gemini feed aggregator
4. A simple Gemtext editor and file manager
5. Ability to sync one’s own capsule with the host
When I say a native app, I’m thinking of an application using a portable toolkit (like QT) that’s available for MacOS, Windows, Linux x64, and Linux ARM. It should be AGPL, but binary downloads should definitely be available and prominent. No Electron, please.
I’ll cover registration and authentication when I talk about the authentication server. But the upshot is that the user receives a restricted account on a Unix server or its equivalent, with the ability to copy files back and forth from their home directory (only) with rsync-over-ssh and ssh certificate authentication (only).
The editor should basically be a textbox control with additional buttons for the different Gemtext line types, including a helper for local links (inside a capsule) and uploading media. The file manager interface should be very simple – similar to a mobile note-taking app, with a focus on adding content and editing recent content.
When the user saves a document, their Gemini feed and Atom feed are both updated, and the document, updated feeds, and any new media are rsync’ed to the host.
FIXME: add later.
The Gemini server doesn't need anything special, not even CGI support. Depending on how the provider provisions URLs, it could need virtual host support (i.e., every user on their own subdomain), but that's not necessary.
Every site needs a Terms of Service or Code of Conduct document, and every site needs a privacy policy.
Groups of sites with compatible ToS/CoC will need to coordinate with each other to be considered as alternates for sign-ups.