Concept for a mobile nomad-net browser #1031
Replies: 5 comments 8 replies
-
|
Welcome! So many projects have no designers onboard, so it's great that you're interested in Reticulum! That figma URL you posted tells me my browser is too old, even though it is Firefox 140. Is there another tool you can use to display your ideas? What are the key areas you would like to improve? Personally I'd like to explore how multiple client identities can be integrated into the UI, given Reticulum's unique ability to allow that. Maybe favourites and contacts are presented "within" one identity, or alternately having the UI switch identity based on which nomadnet site you're looking at? -Kevin |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
Oh, that's weird on the browser compatibility. I wouldn't be surprised if it's just figma not working well w/ a browser like firefox. There is this prototype link you could try, but I'm kind of skeptical: https://www.figma.com/make/taYoYEZ8HNLRIryJWWshnv/BrowserZ-App-Flows?node-id=0-1&t=hSj0xhzEVh8oUmNY-1 I usually like using Penpot, which I'm sure would work better. But, I just couldn't help myself trying the new AI tool w/ this first. I'll probably port over some flows to a more accessible place eventually, but in the meantime, I do really like your suggestion! I have this profile manager in the prototype where you can switch identities. 
I was thinking that identites could be tied to the set of networks you connect to. So, you could have a more public community facing one, and then maybe a separate id for interacting with a more private network. Which I think matches what you're saying. |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
It looks great! So is the profile in the second picture the same thing as the account in the first? It would be good to always have the active id visible somewhere on the top or bottom so there’s no ambiguity about which one you are using. Also, a clear and double-checked option for fingerprinting would be great on top of each particular site! let me know if you need manpower for the iOS version. |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
It would be nice to have a variable time filter for recent announces too! And a way to see your browsing and fingerprinting history per id. |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
It'd be awesome to work on an iOS version together! I was thinking of working on an Android version w/ my friend first because of the difficulty w/ keeping the app running to get the announcements on iOS. Or, at least I was reading that it could be difficult. It would be great to brainstorm on it! And, yes, that second picture corresponds to the Profile Settings which lives on the Account tab in the prototype. I like your idea about being able to see the active ID more easily. On the fingerprinting, it'll be good for me to study that more. I know I've seen it in Meshchat, but I still don't really know what fingerprinting is 😅. |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
Liam used a fingerprint icon in MeshChat, but the concept is really about identifying yourself to the server. While most connections are anonymous on the client side, Reticulum provides the ability to send an Identity when connecting to a service. Something like 'logging in' is the closest widely-known concept, except that you don't need to create an account with every different service - your Identities live on your own device. (HTTP has something similar with client-side certificates, but most websites are keen to get your email address, so the functionality isn't widely used.) As @Zedelghem mentioned - when you do tap the button to identify yourself to a service, you want to be sure you are sending them the appropriate Identity and there should also be a confirmation in case you tapped accidentally. Maybe a modal popup with 'Send' & 'Cancel', listing the local identities with the 'active identity' already selected and 'Cancel' as the default action? I suspect an 'Identify automatically to this site' checkbox (default: off) would also be handy. Regarding relating Identities to Networks: It's quite difficult to connect to only one Reticulum network (and to prevent different networks from joining with each other) so I tend to go with the assumption that there will only be 1 global Reticulum network. However, there will certainly be different sites & services you connect to which you may want to present different Identities to. Your Profiles page looks good to manage the local Identities:
|
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
Ah ok; I feel like I get the fingerprinting / identifying yourself now. And, these points are great! On exporting, we're talking about just being able to copy the private key to paste it somewhere else, right? I still haven't tried moving an identity btwn apps yet. |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
Yes, the identity file is just the 512-bit identity key stored in a simple file format. This can be exported/copied either as the file itself, or in a variety of other formats (hex, base32, base64) using the |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
Forgot to mention: Multiple tabs The worst part about MeshChat for me is the lack of Tabs for different sites! That's something I'd love to see in any implementation - a tap-and-hold to open a menu with 'Open in a new tab'. Also: Javascript disabled by default on anything sourced from Reticulum! |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
Yes, definitely. We want to be very careful to not open up cross-site / exfiltration attack vectors when integrating RNS stuff with web rendering technologies. It's imperative to set correct control headers so a page served over RNS cannot just connect to a ton of random tracking sites on the normal HTTP-based web. |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
On exporting, we're talking about just being able to copy the private
key to paste it somewhere else, right? I still haven't tried moving an
identity btwn apps yet.
Not necessarily to move between apps, but to preserve it somewhere
outside the app in case the app needs to be re-installed, or the user
upgrades to a new devices, etc. If those 64 bytes are lost, that
identity is lost forever.
The backup needs to be encrypted with a password just in case a copy of
the file ends up somewhere it shouldn't.
Training users on this need - to be responsible for backing up their
identities - might be the hardest part of the move to P2P. There's no
'forgot my password' link they can click!
I see with cryptocash apps they actually force you to type in the
12-word recovery key before continuing, just to make sure the user did
actually write it down somewhere.
Skyguy
…
|
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
Hm right; I wonder if establishing a standard for a more human-readable / transcribable private key format would be beneficial here btwn different reticulum apps. Something like the 12-word seed phrase you mentioned. I suppose we could have options in an app like this anticipating a shift. Like an option to export as.. [original key, 12 word phrase, or different options]. They could back it up in a format that suits them. It's just to use it in a different app, that app would have to be able to unravel it, right? |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
-
|
Yes, I've been wanting to add some sort of mnemonic import/export functionality to the |
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
Uh oh!
There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.
-
Hello 👋 ; I'm a designer recently getting into Reticulum. I made this concept of a mobile browser for the Nomad Net because that's the area of this project that's so interesting to me, and it doesn't seem like there's something like this in the works yet. It's inspired a lot by what you can do in the Meshchat desktop client, and it's made using Figma's AI mock-up tool, which I think y'all can click through here: https://www.figma.com/make/taYoYEZ8HNLRIryJWWshnv/BrowserZ-App-Flows?node-id=0-1&t=ylqcNlNYfori89nn-1
What do you all think? I know some of the copy isn't totally accurate, but it's kinda tedious to change in this editor. Would love to hear feedback on the overall flow and usability though. A friend and I may start work on something like this soon, so if any of y'all have ideas or even want to collaborate, pls let me know what you think!
Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback.
All reactions