Sengi review (Mastodon client)
About two weeks ago, I returned to the fediverse, because I felt the need for it. But I also didn't want to continue where I left off, I felt that I've changed in the past 3 months. So jumped on a new account, went from Pleroma to Mastodon. With that I also wanted to switch my fedi habits to a dedicated client and not a web interface.
Unfortunately most client are based on Electron. We have Gnome Social and Telephant, I couldn't try them because I use Elementary OS with 2 year old dependencies, and I didn't have the patience to compile everything I need. I will try it, when Elementary OS 6 will come out, which hopefully has the upgraded elements.
Tootle looks like a promising software, but it feels like it is behind in features, design, etc. Plus I didn't like the small font it used, and there is no way to change it.
I tested 3-4 programs, in a very short time, but at the end I always returned to Sengi.
Sengi
Sengi is of course another Electron-based program, but I slowly made peace with this. It not just works, but I actually like using it.
It's like a swiss army knife. It supports Mastodon and Pleroma too, multi-account, and multiplatform with Windows, Linux, OS X, and modern web browsers.
Layout & design
Other than the default one column view, the full window options has multi-column view - depends on how big the window is - and you can change the focus at the bottom. I don't know how many column it can have, but at one time I had about 9 or 10. In one column view you can change between them with a shortcut.
Multi-column full window
I think the colorscheme can be better, sometimes it feels a little bit too dark for me, but it's usable, and miles better than i.e. The Desk. I didn't see any options to change it, and I hope in the feature we can do that.
Settings
The bottom left gear has the Settings:
- Notifications: disable everything including focus and sounds. For the later you can choose from four. I like the Appointed.
- Shortcuts: we have two options here to navigate between columns, I just use the default Ctrl+Left/right arrow.
- Content warning: hide all or not, plus you can give filters so you can hide additional content.
- Timelines: you can change how you see the header above columns. If you are using multiple accounts, I highly recommend checking out these. Other than that I use slow mode for manually loading new stuff. It's easier to stay on top off things in this way. Especially if you are following many people.
- About: you can check for client updates.
- Reset: you can delete all local data from Sengi.
Create new message
We have all the options we need. Attach media, create polls, and privacy options for who we are posting to (public, unlisted, followers-only, or direct). And we can schedule posts too, weeks in advance. Plus use emojies as much as you want.
Search
The search function is actually useable, and you can pin hashtags, if you want to check frequently.
As per Mastodon, you can search for users and hashtags or in your own statuses, if you are using Pleroma you can search in statuses too. It's fast enough
Elephant in the room: it's still Electron
Of course my fun with Sengi doesn't change the fact that it is still Electron based. However I didn't experience any extra memory usage, or bugs, crashes. It's actually one of the best Electron apps I've used. I am excited to see what's next.
You can download Sengi from their website, other than deb package, there is AppImage and Snap format too. If you are interested in contributing, the source is on Github. And you can follow Sengi on Mastodon!
—
This was day 7 of #100DaysToOffload. We write for 100 days while the world is going to shit. Just write, (almost) no restrictions!