With NoorNote version 2.0, I’m mainly trying to solve a few UX and design problems:

1. Nostr isn’t just Notes, not just the "social media" side. Even though that’s the most popular part right now, the "other stuff" part is huge. Maybe even bigger. How can I show every side of Nostr in NoorNote (at least what it supports right now) so that the "other stuff" gets equal footing?

2. And how can I let users decide what matters most to them, without emphasizing the social media side?

3. Do I really need a main navigation menu then? What would the app look like without a typical main menu?

4. How can I make the settings clearer? Right now, NoorNote and other clients put everything in one central "Settings" menu. There are so many settings in NoorNote now that it’s hard for anyone to keep track of them all. I keep getting questions like, "can I do this or that?" and the answer is usually, "yes, it’s in the settings..."

5. Points 1. and 2. also lead to something really practical. The load on the app and relays will be much lower. The app won’t check for everything in parallel, like new notes, articles, products, and so on. Only notifications, DMs, and new bookmarks will still check in the background and show a badge. Everything else will stay idle. For example, when I want to read articles, the app won’t keep fetching new notes at the same time. That should make things a lot lighter and more efficient.

I know it’s hard to imagine without seeing and using it, which is why I'm telling you about it in the first place, haha. But that’s the philosophy behind it, and the set of problems I want to solve all at once with the new design. And this calls for a different kind of design and a change in how we think about Nostr clients. I call this kind of design "object-oriented design". And it’s an exciting project for me right now.

People call it "freedom" to do whatever they want. That's not freedom. You're still a slave to your desires. And in fact you're never absolutely free. So better choose wisely what you want to be enslaved to.

I know some of you don’t like the third layout column in NoorNote. You don’t have to turn it on. Just go to the UI settings, switch layout mode to "Tablet" and NoorNote will look like every other Nostr client.

I’ve also made NoorNote a lot faster and snappier, especially on mobile, and added a few features people asked for. Read the release notes at https://noornote.app/whats-new for details.