Thanks to <a href="https://joinpeertube.org/roadmap/#support" target="_blank">your support</a> we've been able to develop the system of global video search on PeerTube during June. We have published a tool which index all videos and channels from all PeerTube instances listed on the <a href="https://joinpeertube.org/instances#instances-list" target="_blank">public directory</a>.
That being said, we understand that lots of people have lots of expectations for PeerTube. But we won't uphold and develop them all, as we are not a tech giant, not even a startup.
The <a target="_blank" href="https://framagit.org/framasoft/peertube/official-plugins/-/tree/master/peertube-plugin-auto-mute">auto-mute plugin</a> allows to automatically hide accounts and instances from a public list while the <a target="_blank" href="https://framagit.org/framasoft/peertube/official-plugins/-/tree/master/peertube-plugin-auto-block-videos">videos-auto-block plugin</a> can automatically block videos from a public list.
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 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.
This <a href="https://framagit.org/framasoft/peertube/search-index" target="_blank">index engine code</a> is under FLOSS license so that anyone can host their own index engine and set their own eligibility rules. As an example, if you want to set up a search interface that only allows you to search for videos hosted on instances dedicated to video games, you will just have to create a list including all instances URLs you have selected and put it online. So that the index engine can refer to it and return you the appropriate results.
This <a target="_blank" href="https://framagit.org/framasoft/peertube/official-plugins/-/tree/master/peertube-plugin-video-annotation">annotation PeerTube plugin</a> allows you to display information in the player at a given time of a video. To do so, once the plugin is installed on the instance, you just have to go on the uploaded video information page, open the <i>Plugin settings</i> tab and then add your annotations and their time code. The placement of the annotations is in the player top right corner by default, but you can choose other locations. The annotations format must respect specific rules:
