Thanks for using Broadsword! I hope you enjoy it.
Broadsword is a Javascript-only web app originally built for App.net. It was ported to Pnut in 2016. In October 2018, it re-implemented User Streams (websockets), making it a fairly fast client. It's not light on resources, but it comes with lots of functionality.
Getting Started
- Go to https://broadsword.s3rv.com/go
- Run with the current release version or newer of Firefox or any flavor of Chromium.
- Broadsword should update on its own, but if you want to be sure to reload things, log out and back in. Refresh the page.
Usage
Keyboard Shortcuts
- With the window in focus (and not a text area), pressing 1, 2, 3, and 4 change which stream you are viewing.
- If you have viewed a non-1,2,3,4 stream previously (a thread, channel, etc), 5 will reopen it.
- CTRL+SHIFT+1 or 2, 3, 4, 5, will "lock" that column.
- F2 opens and closes a panel to write a new post.
- SHIFT+ENTER will send a new post from the F2 panel.
- F4 opens and closes the search/history/error panel.
- p brings up Broadsword's Preferences.
- ESCAPE will close temporary windows.
Columns
- When opening new columns, left-most columns are prioritized over right. As you open columns, it will try to fit them on your display. If there isn't space, it will close columns as you continue to open new ones. If you open Your Stream, then Global, then Mentions, and only two columns fit, opening Mentions will make Global close.
- You can "lock" columns in place, so they cannot be closed unless unlocked. CTRL+SHIFT plus the number of the column you want locked will lock it, and it will have a yellow border. Press the same keys to unlock it.
Threading
- Open a thread by clicking on a post's time stamp. (e.g.,
Oct 30, 7:51 pm
)
- If you have a thread open, it will notify you each time the thread updates, regardless of whether you are mentioned or not! Makes it easy to follow an active conversation while Broadsword is in the background.
- If a post is a reply or has replies, there will be an icon of two speech bubbles next to the time stamp. Clicking on that will bring you to the permalink on HTML.is client.
- The anchor symbol appears on posts that are replies to other posts. If you click on it, and the post it is replying to is lower in the column, it will scroll down to that post and highlight it for you.
Mentions
- Mentions (like
@33mhz
) link to an inline view of the user's profile, and include users' post count achievements and the time zone difference between you and them.
- Broadsword auto-completes some usernames of users you follow. If you type @ and at least one letter, it will drop down a list of users you follow whose usernames start that way. Use TAB to complete it with the top username. UP and DOWN will cycle through the names.
Tags
- Tags can be muted by pulling up a tag (click the link, use the top menu, or press F4 and type
#your_tag
), and clicking on the bullhorn icon that appears at the top of the tag stream. Be sure your "Mute Hashtags" preference is checked.
Interactions
- Interactions from other users (Bookmarks, Reposts, Follows) are shown as a sub-tab under the Mentions tab (3).
- If enabled, interaction notifications update every 3 minutes.
Search / History / Errors
- This can be pulled up by hitting F4 or clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the top menu.
- It lists
@, *, #, p, c, ?, ?@
in the text input. The first word/letter you enter will be a command. These are the options:
@33mhz
will pull up that user
*33MHz
will pull up that user's bookmarks
#WednesdayChallenge
will pull up that tag
p100
will pull up the thread for post 100
c16
will pull up channel 16
? investigations
will search for the text after the question mark
?@ photo
will search for users related to the text
- If executing a normal search (
?
), you can add filters to the end of the search. Here are the filter options:
+/-cp
crossposts only (from other networks)
+/-r
replies only
+cl
client ID, followed by its ID
+rel
order by relevance, instead of by ID
+n
how many of an item to pull up, from 1-100 (must be last)
- This panel also lists the last few things you've viewed: thread, user, channel, etc.
- It also lists errors, if you run into those.
User Presence
Users can have a 15-minute-standing "status" or presence on their user. By default when a user's presence changes Broadsword will pop up a menu at the bottom showing the change.
To pull up this presence tab, you can presss r
. The tab includes a spot to set your own status.
Miscellaneous
- Clicking on a picture changes its size.
- Under the Options Menu, you can update your profile description and name, change preferences, and view some other Pnut-related tools and sites.
- Your Stream has an "Open Stream" button at the top. If turned off (gray), new posts will queue until you click "Show Posts" or turn on "Open Stream".
- You can select your color theme and change font size and font under Preferences (p).
- Broadsword can convert Celsius to Fahrenheit or vice versa; setting in the Preferences.
- Translation doesn't work.
If a user profile self-identifies as speaking a different language than you, a Translate button will be in the meta of their posts in the shape of a puzzle piece. Click it! This uses Microsoft's Translate API. (Privacy Policy)
- Stream markers probably don't work.
Credits
Made by @33MHz.