#ponyhoof

Here is the latest state of Ponyhoof and the new Facebook.com design that is rolling out soon. I apologize for being quiet and not posting any updates about this which led to several people reaching out for details, so here is a rundown.

Wait, what is happening?

In case you are unaware or ‘lucky’ not seeing any new design, Facebook is rolling out an all-new design for desktop.

Not only the design is changed, but all the internal coding have changed as well which means any software/extension that integrates with Facebook.com is going to be broken in some way.

What is the current state of Ponyhoof on this new design?

Ponyhoof technically still works, and there have been several tweaks such as supporting dark mode and avoiding totally unusable experiences such as black text on a dark background, but yes, the ponies appear to be missing and that’s no good. 😡

(Brief note: Using dark mode + pastel colored pony backgrounds don’t match 😛, if you use dark mode, then I chose to let the dark background ‘win’ over the pony’s color)

Although the button to open Ponyhoof Options is missing on the logout menu, it’s still possible to access it by clicking the Ponyhoof icon at the top-right of your browser, though some of the options such as notification sounds are broken on the new design as well.

Will Ponyhoof be updated to work on this new design?

Ideally yes, I would love to, I haven’t quit the fandom 😉 and still catch up watching the cursed Pony Life weekly (pls send help). So what’s holding up the fix?

First of all, from the very beginning, apart from one server administrator, practically all of Ponyhoof’s development/coding is done by one stallion, so the project’s bus factor is a risky 1.

Handing off the software to another person is risky as it would be hard to find someone that actually wants to deal with Facebook’s intricacies. Also there’s the possibility of the extension being hijacked by an ad company.

This was announced last year but I guess it’s not well known, I’m working for Facebook (yes, the company) starting last year and it’s easy to see why there’s a potential conflict of interest. There is no explicit instructions that I *must* stop development, nor is there any confirmation that it’s fine to proceed, so Ponyhoof is in this weird limbo state.

Finally, let’s be frank, now that I’m working a full-time job doing software work, I don’t want to stare at *more* of that after work.

That’s the summary of what’s happening with Ponyhoof and my life, if you have any other questions, then feel free to comment at the original post.

Ponyhoof v2.421 is now available with a revamped pony selector! You can get the latest update at https://jointheherd.little.my

For previous versions, please check the update notes archive.

Pony selector:

New look for the pony selector, the old one doesn’t work well for ponies/creatures with long names, so it’s switched to a vertical list instead

Show radio buttons to make it more obvious

Show portraits of ponies/creatures you choose on random mode, instead of some vague “(4 characters)”

Improved search, some search terms will show ponies as the top hit (e.g. ‘dc’, ‘sa’, ‘ss’)

You can click on a category’s header (e.g. Mane 6) to quickly tick/untick all ponies in that category

Show pony tooltip descriptions (e.g. “Also known as”) on the left to avoid overlapping some other pony

Others:

Add fancy dialog animations

Update Browser Ponies with new Desktop Ponies content:

New: Pear Butter

Renamed:

Dude → Jeff ‘The Dude’ Letrotski

Fredrick Horseshoepin → Frederic Horseshoepin

Masked Matterhorn → Masked Matter-Horn

Mistress Marevelous → Mistress Mare-velous

Tea Shop Pony → Jasmine Leaf

The welcome screen for new users doesn’t automatically select a pony anymore, you need to choose one by yourself to continue

The Ponyhoof installer got a minor visual makeover! Well, it’s just a simple background change 😆

Many ponification and internal improvements!

Bug fixes:

Fix Facebook login screen might not appear when logged out

Fix the page Like/Brohoof button on Ponyhoof Options sometimes not appearing

Fix a problem that no error message would appear when custom background images can’t be saved properly

Fix multi-user options not being saved properly

Fix link to open Ponyhoof Options sometimes not appearing on Messenger.com

Firefox only:

Improve reliability of showing the Ponyhoof Options icon on the address bar on older Firefox versions

Safari only:

Ponyhoof will no longer be supported on Safari due to new restrictions by Apple, please switch to another browser to get future Ponyhoof updates

Known browser issues:

Dialog animations are not available on Safari as it does not support Web Animations API

When you choose a custom background image, Ponyhoof is supposed to automatically resize your image if it’s too big, this is currently not working on Firefox

A new version of Ponyhoof is now available with general fixes and improvements! You can check if you’re up-to-date and get the update at https://jointheherd.little.my

For previous versions, please check the update notes archive.

New Browser Ponies: Songbird Serenade, Tempest Shadow and tea shop pony

Ponyhoof can now run on Messenger.com! This is enabled automatically for Firefox/Safari users, Chrome/Opera users will need to enable this option at Ponyhoof Options

Standard bug fixes and improvements that every changelog will mention

Safari only:

Safari 9+ is now required

Ponyhoof v2.321 is now available for another round of bug fixes! You can get the latest updates at https://jointheherd.little.my

For previous versions, please check the update notes archive.

The Facebook login screen now shows ‘Recent logins’ for those who want it, it was previously hidden by Ponyhoof’s special login screen, remove all accounts from that screen to get the special screen back.

Add one more search text for Rarity

Fix video viewer not showing properly if the ‘Reduce animations’ option is enabled

Fix various text ponification issues

Various code clean up for maintenance/modernization

Chrome only:

Next Ponyhoof version requires Chrome 49+ Why the magic number 49? Believe it or not, we still have Windows XP/Vista users in the wild… and 49 is the last supported Chrome version for them. yfw/mfw:

Firefox only:

Fix support for Greasemonkey 4 (note that we still recommend that you migrate to the extension version, see https://ponyhoof.little.my/greasemonkey-migration)

Opera only:

Next Ponyhoof version requires Opera 36+

Fixed the page appearance when you attempt to open Ponyhoof options at Opera’s Extensions section

Ponyhoof v2.311 is now available with the usual quality bug fixes for your enjoyment! You can get the latest updates at https://jointheherd.little.my

For previous versions, please check the update notes archive.

Fix reactions sometimes not being ponified properly

Fix some error dialogs not getting ponified (like Derpy’s “I just don’t what went wrong!”)

Fix more text ponification problems and other areas

The pony selector now scales and tries to fit in more space when you resize its menu

Rework several parts of Ponyhoof Options to a new code architecture for better maintenance, there should not be any noticeable differences (I’ll be impressed if you do…)

Hide the scary/cryptic error details by default when an internal extension error occurs

Safari only:

Safari 8+ is now required

Ponyhoof v2.301 is now available featuring three new ponies: Pear Butter, Snips and Snails! As usual, go to https://jointheherd.little.my to get the update and more:

Reordered the pony selector, the Equal Four (Season 5) category is moved down a bit

Added Coloratura and King Thorax for Browser Ponies from the main Desktop Ponies project

Squashed some more parasprites/bugs

Many internal changes/fixes/improvements

Chrome/Opera only:

Revamped the page that appears when you attempt to open Ponyhoof options at the browser’s Extensions section

Firefox only:

Ponyhoof is now ready for Firefox 57+ with WebExtension support (no more legacy!)

Ponyhoof’s toolbar icon is now moved inside the address bar (this is part of the WebExtension migration, not much I can do about it)

Now requires Firefox 51+

Added warning for users that are still using Ponyhoof on Greasemonkey/Scriptish

Safari only:

Next Ponyhoof version requires Safari 8+

On mid-November 2017, Firefox 57 will be released and many legacy extensions that have not been updated to use their new WebExtensions system will no longer work.

To avoid inconvenience, it is recommended that you remove Ponyhoof from Greasemonkey or Scriptish, and reinstall Ponyhoof at https://jointheherd.little.my that is ready to support the latest Firefox.

To check if you are affected:

Go to about:addons in the Firefox address bar

Check if you have a User Scripts section at the left

If you do not have a User Scripts section...

Ponyhoof should be installed as an Extension, if it is, then you are not affected :)

If you do have a User Scripts section, and Ponyhoof is located inside it...

Follow the instructions below to get a copy of your Ponyhoof settings first before uninstalling

Uninstall Ponyhoof

Optional: If you don’t have any other use for Greasemonkey/Scriptish, feel free to uninstall them entirely

Reinstall Ponyhoof at https://jointheherd.little.my

Restore your settings

To get a copy of your Ponyhoof settings to restore later:

Go to www.facebook.com

Open Ponyhoof Options

Click the Misc tab at the top of Ponyhoof Options 5 times to reveal the hidden Debug options

Scroll to the bottom and click Open settings editor

Click Save settings to file and save the text file to somewhere, such as your Downloads folder

After you reinstalled Ponyhoof at https://jointheherd.little.my , you can load back your Ponyhoof settings:

Go to www.facebook.com

If the “Welcome to Ponyhoof” screen appears, then select any random pony and close it

Re-open the settings editor (see above)