civilblur/youlag v4.1.0

on GitHub

Lots of new customization options have been added. Head to the Youlag extension settings to explore them.

On top of the customization options, enjoy a refreshed UI with many tweaks and performance improvements implemented.

Highlights

• Whitelist specific categories to use the video mode layout [1].
  • Video mode is enabled for all categories by default, customize it in settings.
• Block incoming YouTube shorts [2].
  • Disabled by default, enable it in settings.
• Modernized interface for articles (Normal view)[3].
  • Close articles using browser back navigation, handy for mobile usage [6].
• Swipe down in video mode to activate mini player [4].
  • Enabled by default, disable it in settings.
• Mini player follows across pages; read articles while keeping a floating video at the bottom [5].

Improvements

• [1] Select specific categories to utilize the video mode layout, leaving article feeds in default reading view.
  • Useful if you wish to only apply the video layout for e.g. specifically video feed categories.
• [2] Setting to block YouTube shorts option.
  • Only new incoming shorts will be blocked, existing ones will not be affected.
• [3] Modernized article feed view, and other pages across FreshRSS.
  • If you're not interested in the video mode layout, you can still use Youlag for solely its modern theme.
  • Only "Normal view" is currently supported. "Reading view" is not yet modernized.
• [4] Mobile: Swipe down in video mode to minimize into mini player.
  • The swipe is recognized only when performed outside the video, e.g. the video description.
  • This feature can be enabled/disabled in the settings.
• [5] Keep mini player active across pages.
  • This is the mode when the video modal is minimized and the video sticks to the bottom right corner (formerly referred to as "picture-in-picture").
  • Usage example: Open a video from a video feed and minimize it, then navigate to an article feed. Play the video while reading the article.
  • The video playback state will restarted when switching to another page.
  • The mini player only follows you on feed pages, it does not remain on e.g. settings pages.
• Mobile: Increase size of mini player buttons to reduce misclicks.
• Embed YouTube videos into articles, even when not using Youlag's video mode layout.
• Article feeds (non-video feeds) improved readability and responsiveness for both desktop and mobile.
• Allow saving video to label (playlist) directly within the Youlag theater modal.
• Custom implementation of "Add to label (playlist)".
• Custom implementation of "Stick the article to the top when opened".
• Sticky feed navigation menu, now shown/hidden through the button "Configure view".
  • This refers to the navigation menu at the top of the feed, where there's options to "mark read", "refresh feed", etc.
• Display the category title in feed pages at the top of the page.
• Setting to toggle "Favorites → Watch Later" and "My Labels → Playlists".
• Setting to "Sort 'Watch later/Favorites' entries by recently modified".
  • If enabled, feed entries are sorted by default based on when you added or read them ("User modified 9→1"), instead of received date ("Freshly received first").
  • Note that marking an entry as “read” counts as a modification, so this will cause read entries will appear at the top of the list.
• Setting to show "New" badge on unwatched videos.
• [6] Close articles using browser back navigation.
  • Especially handy for modern smartphone usage, where you can swipe to trigger Back.
  • This feature is also available for video since previous releases.
• Highlight closed article to easier visually navigate where one last left off.
• The browser tab title updates according to the video you're currently watching.
• [7] Greatly improved loading speed for video feeds.
  • Result of preventing iframe elements to make unique HTTP calls to fetch FreshRSS' lazyload placeholder image (grey.gif) when loading in new feed entries. A new HTTP request would otherwise be made for each feed entry, causing poor performance (FreshRSS/Extensions/issues/236).

Known issues

• For "Video mode" setting, at least one category has to be checked, otherwise it will default back to "All pages and categories".
  • This will be fixed in the next release, to allow disabling the video mode completely.
• iOS/Safari: Youlag allows you to close the video modal using the browser's back button, but on iOS and Safari, this feature is unreliable.
  • Instead of closing the modal, the back button might return you to the previous page. This limitation is due to the browser attempting to navigate within the video iframe rather than the page itself.
  • Closing articles using the back navigation on iOS and Safari still works, this only affect videos.

Fixes

• Youlag video mini player closes when opening menus, such as dropdown menus.
• Exiting videos via the Esc key could sometimes cause the page to return to the previous one, instead of just closing the video.
• In video layout, author name is not displaying due truncation of a long title.
• Mobile: minor misalignment of sidebar toggle button.
• Overlapping buttons in side navigation when reaching the end of the page.
• Video description URLs could in certain cases wrap the link incorrectly when trying to make URLs clickable.
• When minimizing an article in mini player, the wrong article would be restored when navigating to different page.
• Navigating back to previous page after opening a video could sometimes require to be triggered multiple time.
  • The issue has been reduced significantly, but could still occur depending on which browser you use.
• Desktop: Dropdown menus exceeding browser window height could not be accessed.
  • Scroll has been added to dropdown menus exceeding the browser height.
• When opening the Youlag video mode, the feed entry could sometimes also open up in FreshRSS' native expanded view in the background, due to a race condition.

Documentation

• Update the contribution section with script commands, and .env information.
• Refer "picture-in-picture" to "mini player" instead, for simplicity.