With the advent of the exit from Reddit, Lemmy has seen an incredible rise in user adoption. This comes with many benefits, but one of the largest ones involves developers. As fediverse platform’s adoption rises, so too does a proliferation of apps and alternative clients. While there are quite a few mobile apps on Android and iOS now, one interesting area gets overlooked: alternative web frontends.

Alexandrite by Sheodox addresses two of the biggest complaints about the Lemmy user experience so far:

1. Lemmy’s UI is kind of ugly.
2. Some of Lemmy’s usability leaves much to be desired.

To be clear: these are opinions held by just some of Lemmy’s users, and aesthetic opinions of user interfaces can be very subjective. What works for one person might not work for another.

With that being said: this app really does feel like a fresh coat of paint. And I think it looks incredible.

Usability Features

Aesthetics and styling aside, Alexandrite also sports some interesting features that you don’t really get with the regular interface. The app includes a multi-column view, which allows you to scroll around a conversation thread while navigating other parts of Lemmy at the same time.

Other visual improvements include a built-in markdown editor with a preview, which is an absolute must for forum-style posting. Conversation trees are also very straightforward, making it easy to check different sections of a long, threaded conversation. In addition, the app natively supports both the notification inbox, as well as the Moderation panel.

In all, this is a very strong start for a project that’s less than a month old. I highly recommend trying it out!

Thanks for reading! You can support the Alexandrite project in the following ways below:

• Use the App
• Github Repo
• Issue Tracker
• Buy the Creator a Coffee

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