About

Overview

Hidden Nexus is a capsule in Gemspace that allows anyone to post their thoughts, and to let others interact with them.

It has standard social media features, with powerful customization options.

Established 2023-08-24

Goals

I made the Hidden Nexus because I wanted a place for residents of Gemspace to be able to easily talk to each other and meet others. I haven't found anything out there quite like this, and I hope that this can be a nexus for all on this protocol.

Design Philosophy

Programming

I wanted to create something both very functional, but easy to use. I had other experiments with CGI applications for Gemini, and through those learned the skills needed to make the Hidden Nexus.

One major design goal was abstracting Gemini page types and request checks to simple functions and methods. With those I'm able to build a CGI application in a very structured, easy to read way.

With more development and polish, the library I've written to create this capsule is something I would like to publish and open source.

User Experience

On top of a solid foundation for building powerful CGI pages, the experience of using these pages needed to be accessible and easy to parse. A good backend is nothing without a good way to access it.

A lot of work (and reworking) was put into making these pages look as clean, readable, and consistent as possible, while also displaying as much information and interactivity as possible.

Less is more, but I still want to give lots of options.

Customization

As a developer, I really enjoy lots of customizability in any service I use. A lot of development time was in creating systems to allow for granular user settings.

From things like setting your own date format, to showing specifically which post actions to always show.

Being able to tailor your experience was a key pillar of development.

Feedback

Feedback from others using this service is key to making the experience at the Hidden Nexus better.

I use this service and read and respond to posts made. I can also always be contacted via email.

abraxas@hidden.nexus