Post · bonfire.cafe

Post

Mastodon Bird UI support for Mastodon v4.6.0 with CSS properties is coming soon. The theme will also be modularized using SCSS partials to match Mastodon's new style infrastructure.

The build process will include npm scripts and Parcel, making the theme ultra-portable for any Mastodon instance, whether added through the Custom CSS textarea or directly by a Mastodon admin.

I'll also create a simple bash script for Mastodon admins to enable the theme as a selectable option more easily than the current fork-and-cut method.

This is no easy feat, but definitely worth it.

GitHub: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui

Progress in the nightly branch.

#MastodonBirdUI #CSS #OpenSource #MastoAdmin #Theming #BirdUI #Mastodon #BuildInPublic

Screenshot of Mastodon v4.6.0-alpha.1 + Mastodon Bird UI 4.0.0rc

RxBrad

@RxBrad@mastodon.rxbrad.com replied · 4 weeks ago

@rolle Any idea if this new theming stuff means possible glitch-soc compatibility?

André Klein

@andreklein@mastodon.social replied · 4 weeks ago

@rolle sleek! love it

Roni Rolle Laukkarinen

@rolle@mementomori.social replied · 4 weeks ago

@andreklein Thanks! There's not much visually new in this version, it's mostly a big technical refactor. Have you seen Mastodon Bird UI in action before? If not, check out my instance: https://mementomori.social

André Klein

@andreklein@mastodon.social replied · 4 weeks ago

@rolle first time i stumbled over this. best looking Mastodon UI I've seen yet. should be the standard everywhere. so much cleaner. well done!

Roni Rolle Laukkarinen

@rolle@mementomori.social replied · 4 weeks ago

@andreklein Thank you! I've heard that quite a lot, though there are other great themes out there too, like @nileane's wonderful Tangerine UI. I originally built this in early 2023 as a quick experiment (you can read the post here: https://mementomori.social/@rolle/109984108360395822), and at first, I didn't plan for it to become a full-fledged theme. I just wanted my Mastodon instance to look more polished, minimal, and reminiscent of how Twitter looked in 2019.

I didn't have time to contribute to Mastodon's core since it was filled with hardcoded colors, so I spent a week creating my own theme. It kind of escalated from there, and before I knew it, I had built a full theme framework that I was developing on daily basis.

Mastodon Bird UI is now quite widely used - most notably it's one of the themes of the @Vivaldi browser's Mastodon instance: https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-social-latest-update-built-in-translate-and-themes/

You can see a list of instances using Mastodon Bird UI here: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui?tab=readme-ov-file#list-of-instances-that-use-mastodon-bird-ui

The upcoming Mastodon UI system refactor will make it even easier to port themes, and I hope it brings great things to the community!

#MastoAdmin #MastodonBirdUI