The admin of a PeerTube instance can choose to auto follow other instances. Before, the majority of admins used this feature to automatically follow all the instances in the public index (which causes moderation issues). It is now possible for anyone to share a list of instances (on github, gitlab, pastebin, etc.) so that the admins of a PeerTube instance can use that list's web address to make their instance automatically follow the instances of that shared list. This lets users create auto follow lists within small groups.
The administration menu of an instance is clearer. When one of the tabs of this menu bar is open, the other tabs are grayed out, which helps you to find your way around more easily. In the <i>Users</i> tab, the users' table layout has been modified: the action button is now on the left, to facilitate management on mobile devices, the video quota is now displayed as a progress bar and the role of each user is immediately recognizable with the use of different colors.
The comment window composer has been improved: there is now a small button indicating that you can use the Markdown format. A delete/rewrite feature on comments with no replies, that we already know from other software in the fediverse like Mastodon, has also been implemented.
The disappearance of the "most liked" category, in the left menu, is the most visible change. In return, <strong>we added to the "trending" category 3 options for sorting videos</strong>:
The last feature we have to implement is the videos redundancy between instances, which will further increase resilience on instance overload. If all goes well, we should finish it in about two weeks (end of september).
The most important of these new features is <strong>the playlist system</strong>. This feature allows any user to create a playlist in which it's possible to add videos and reorder them. Videos added to a playlist can be viewed entirely or partially: the creator of the playlist can decide when the video playback starts and/or ends (timecode system). This system is really useful to create all kinds of zappings or educational contents by selecting extracts from videos which interest you. In addition, a "Watch Later" playlist is created by default for each user. Thus, you can save videos in this playlist when you don't have time to watch them immediately.
The sidebar menu has been completely reworked, thanks to the UX design work we did with Marie Cécile Paccard. It is now way easyier to interact with you profile or to distinguish pages displaying what's in your Library from what's on your instance federation bubble.
The work in progress on the PeerTube experience is going well: several interviews have been conducted, and our designer will soon be sending us summaries with her recommendations. In addition, we are planning to work together on the menus organization, but don't be impatient! This is an in-depth work and the results may only be visible in a few months 😉.
There is also a new plugin that allows to silence or block a list of predefined instances: our thanks to those who have started to create, publish and share their blocking lists, we hope that this kind of initiatives will multiply!
There is still a lot to tell about this v3, and people who contributed to make it happen. That's a good thing, because we will talk about it in January, for the v3 release post.
You can <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/issues">create an issue</a>, contribute to it, or even start contributing by choosing the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22good+first+issue+%3Abeginner%3A%22"> easy problems for those who begin </a>. See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.joinpeertube.org/#/contribute-getting-started">contributing guide</a> for more information.