cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/530162
Please report issues with this version either here or at the issue tracker.
Changelog v1.2.0
- Add rewrite support for posts/comments
- Try to not rewrite federation links
Description
Lemmy Universal Link Switcher, or LULs for short, scans all links on all websites, and if any link points to a Lemmy instance that is not your main/home instance, it rewrites the link so that it instead points to your main instance. Currently only works for community/user links.
Also works on Firefox Android with the Tampermonkey extension!
Features
Rewrite links to Lemmy posts/comments to point to your home instance. Only after hovering over them, because getting home posts/comments links require communicating with the Lemmy servers, and we don’t want to spam the servers.
Instantly rewrite all links of communities or users to Lemmy/kbin on all websites everywhere to your new instance! The rewritten links will have an icon next to it, and hovering/touching the icon will show you the original link, allowing you to go there if you want to.
If you are already on a page that has a corresponding page on your home instance, a link will automatically be added to the page header.
Home Instance Setup
Simply visit the Lemmy instance you want to set as your home while the script is active. You will be asked if you want to set this instance to your home instance:
If you initially set your home instance wrong or just want to change it, no worries - simply go to your settings on your new home instance and press the button for it!
Coming soon
- Rewrite kbin post/comment links
- Better rewriting support for kbin community/user urls (e.g. sort options are currently ignored)
- Nicer tooltip styling (fit into page theme)
- Signify that “Show at home” button is loading for posts/comments
I was just thinking that needs to become a feature. More technically minded folks could easily update the link on their own to plug into their Lemmy instance to subscribe, but for new users that could prove cumbersome.
I wonder if the functionality could be brought directly into clients.
On native clients definitely, but this rewrites links on all websites everywhere. So idk, if you open an external link like a website article, it mostly opens in your browser. The client most often does not have control over your browser so can’t rewrite links. This script can and does.
Ah, that’s a good point. I was thinking specifically within Lemmy apps, and not so much across the board.
It’s a huge issue for mobile web and app users. Definitely something that should be written into any app that is being developed for Lemmy.
Maybe some sort of universal Lemmy cookie that you can set from the preferences in your home instance and points to the home instance – when any Lemmy instance loads, it reads the cookie and if you have one marked as your Home instance, it redirects to the home instance as long as it federates with the home instance. If the cookie isn’t found or the instance doesn’t federate with your home instance, it shows it normally.