Last week we released version 2.0.0 of qpost, our open-source social microblogging network. In this blog post I want to detail what we have planned for the future of qpost and what’s coming next.
Public API (#25)
With qpost’s re-release we have been working on a public API. This API is currently being utilized by the new front-end, however it uses session tokens for authorization. We want to add an alternative, which allows third-party developers to register their applications with us and authorize users without the need of them submitting their username and password.
I personally am really pushing for making the API public as I want to welcome more third-party developers on qpost and turn it into a platform. I used to be a very active Twitter user and always enjoyed working on bots, that post images from reddit or other platforms automatically, and so did a lot of other people. I think if we manage to bring bot developers to qpost and support them, this could help boost the amount of varying content on the platform by a lot.
Further backend improvements (#22)
Currently we use HTTP polling for automatic fetching of new posts and notifications on the front-end, a technique we have taken from the first version of qpost. In the future, this is supposed to be replaced by a socket server, that automatically notifies the clients of new events happening. This replacement will significantly reduce the strain on our servers and allow users to receive posts and notifications in real-time.
Messages (#23)
Messages are a basic feature, that has been planned for qpost ever since it’s first release version. We want to allow users to communicate in any way they want. If you want to send a quick message to someone, you should be able to do that within qpost. Messages have been on the backlog for a very long time, because they depend on the previously mentioned issue (socket server). We did not want to use HTTP polling for messages, since it would drastically impact the experience.
Smartphone applications
Apps for iOS and Android are something that has been planned for a long time as well. We want to release qpost on their respective platforms, to open it up for more users more easily. This issue in particular will take more time, until then you can use qpost as a progressive web app to use qpost on your smartphone.
We have many more things planned for qpost in the future. You can read more about it on our GitLab issue list.
Beyond our actual app features, we also want to spend more time marketing and growing qpost to have more users on the platform.