A certain stage of development has ended - a prototype was created that allowed me to verify whether such a form makes sense in the #fediverse. Until now, it was a project that I developed in my free time. Now, thanks to the great people from Nlnet, I will be able to devote much more time to it. This time, we have already outlined a plan for the next few months officially: https://nlnet.nl/project/Kbin/

The progress of the work can be followed here: https://dev.karab.in - this is the version set up on the cheapest server, and it will remain so until all stages are completed, because one of the goals is to create a lightweight platform that will have very low requirements in its basic version, and therefore low maintenance costs for instances. With each passing day, more subpages and features will work.

Many of you are working on cool projects, it’s worth calling on the Open call for funding ;-) https://nlnet.nl/news/2023/20230201-call.html

Soon, the kbin.social instance will also officially launch, now work on the server is still underway.

Stage 1 Frontend - refreshed, modern and accessible layout
To save time, the /kbin prototype was created using tools such as Bootstrap. Due to frequent iterations, good interface development practices were often overlooked. The goal is to create a clean, modern, responsive and accessible layout based on feedback from the community, which will work on any device, also without the need to use JS.

Stage 2 Backend - upgrade
Updating the environment, PHP, Symfony, API-Platform, etc.

Stage 3 Search module and alpha release
Currently, the search engine is based on Elasticsearch, which significantly increases the minimum server requirements. The goal is to eliminate Elasticsearch and create a search module with the ability of contextual filters and prepare the first alpha release.

Stage 4 Backend - refactor existing services.
Update of frameworks and tools used in the project. Refactor existing services. Refinement of existing services in order to achieve efficiency. Writing documentation for other developers, admins and visitors. Preparing a repository for contributors.

Stage 5 Federation improvements
Optimization of communication using ActivityPub. Completion of integration, creation of documentation for fediverse developers.

Stage 6 Admin section and user UX improvements
The goal is to provide tools for Kbin instance admins and to improve instance community sections.

Stage 7 Prepare for stable release
The goal is to release a stable version of the platform, solve problems reported by users and, using appropriate tools, develop the highest scalability and efficiency.

Stage 8 Implementing Events (incl. ‘stretch goals’)
At this stage, kbin will also become an events aggregator.

Stage 9 ActivityPub federation of Events (incl. ‘stretch goals’)
The events module will communicate with other platforms via ActivityPub (e.g. Mobilizon)

Currently, I am at stage 1/2/3.

Other instances:

@fediversenews

  • fedosyndicate@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    Thank you for explaining a bit about Strims and Wykop! It is interesting background information. It feels like Digg’s technological descendants are merging back together, even as the platforms change over time!

    I want /kbin to be simple and modular because I want to give people a choice in how it looks. … I want /kbin to be a window into the fediverse. The person who encounters the fediverse for the first time on /kbin will have the opportunity to explore the entire rich ecosystem, and over time may want to move on to more dedicated solutions, which is cool.

    I am glad I signed up for kbin! It’s my first entry into the Fediverse and I thank you for setting up a really nice way to explore the concept. I think your decisions to keep kbin light and easy to maintain has helped keep the website open and running, helping many other people as they take their first steps into the Fediverse too. Joining the Fediverse is a very exciting time!