I prepped a test on how links to content work on LBRY comments and description

I think LBRY is the best thing that happened to video sharing. It's FOSS and it's getting popular everyday.

As users and content creators we need to link to content from time to time. I prepared a test content to see how linking different ways work on LBRY.

I included 4 types of links here for testing – (1) open.lbry.tv link that we get from the share option, (2) lbry.tv link that the share link goes to, (3) lbry:// protocol url, (4) protocol url without lbry://.

Test Markdown

I included something like this:

link test description:
1-> https://open.lbry.com/@lbry:3f/android-fireworks:d
2-> https://lbry.tv/@lbry:3f/android-fireworks:d
3-> lbry://@lbry#3f/android-fireworks#d
4-> @lbry#3f/android-fireworks#d

I tested these 4 links on both the app and lbry.tv...

From app:

  1. Opens the lbry.tv equivalent link on browser
  2. Opens the lbry.tv link on browser
  3. Opens the content in app, as expected
  4. Opens the content in app, as expected

From LBRY.tv

  1. Opens the content on same tab/browser, as expected
  2. Opens the content on same tab/browser, as expected
  3. Opens the content on same tab/browser, as expected
  4. Opens the content on same tab/browser, as expected

*NOTE: I will post this on LBRY subreddit, so this behavior might change in future.

Whether I placed the links on comment or description worked the same way. From my test attempts, it seems sharing the lbry protocol links is better, since it let's me enjoy the linked content on the medium I am currently on (either app or browser). This is better for continuity with the experience.

So what about links opening on browser from app? I think it should be best if they could also be kept within the app. (at least for the open.lbry.com link, I understand that someone might want to link to lbry.tv directly for some reason.)

I noticed this when I was watching a content where there was links inside the markdown content that linked to open.lbry.com and the linked content did not open on the app. Instead it opened on the browser. So it would be a better experience if it opened inside the app.