# Elk A Nimble Client for Mastodon > [! note]- > The content of this page is generated by audio/video transcription and text transformation from the content and links of this source. Source: [https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-5049-elk-a-nimble-client-for-mastodon/](https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-5049-elk-a-nimble-client-for-mastodon/) <video src="https://video.fosdem.org/2025/ud2208/fosdem-2025-5049-elk-a-nimble-client-for-mastodon.av1.webm" controls></video> ## Summary & Highlights: **Introduction to Elk** Elk is a nimble client for Mastodon, focusing on enhancing user experience with features like being a Progressive Web App, supporting code blocks with syntax highlighting, and markdown formatting. It was initiated by core maintainers from the Vue/Vite/Nuxt ecosystem in 2022 and has since attracted numerous contributors. **Development and Features** The session covers the backstory of Elk's development, highlighting its origins during the Twitter migration in November 2022. The project began as a showcase for building real-life applications and has grown to include features like chronological threading and well-being preferences. **Community and Future Directions** Elk has expanded with hundreds of contributors and is available in 34 languages. Future goals include achieving feature parity with Mastodon, enhancing administration features, and supporting single-server deployments. The session emphasizes community involvement and future ambitions for the project. ## Importance for an eco-social transformation Elk's development as an open-source Mastodon client contributes to the eco-social transformation by promoting decentralized and inclusive web platforms. It supports ethical digital communication by providing a non-commercial alternative to mainstream social media. Eco-social designers can leverage Elk's open-source nature to create customized social platforms that prioritize user privacy and community engagement. Challenges include ensuring accessibility and scalability across diverse user bases, and navigating the technical and social complexities of decentralized networks. ## Slides: | | | | --- | --- | | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_001.jpg\|300]] | The first slide introduces Elk as a nimble Mastodon client, highlighting the speaker, Ayo Ayco, and providing contact information. It emphasizes Elk's role as a user-friendly client for Mastodon, inviting attendees to explore its features. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_002.jpg\|300]] | The second slide shares a trivia fact about the elk, noting its survival alongside the mastodon. This playful connection underscores the thematic link between the software's name and its functionality as a Mastodon client. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_003.jpg\|300]] | The third slide outlines the session's agenda, focusing on the backstory of Elk, its feature highlights, and future directions. It sets the stage for a detailed exploration of the project's development and capabilities. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_004.jpg\|300]] | The fourth slide discusses the origins of Elk, noting its inception in November 2022 during the Twitter migration. It highlights the involvement of developers from the Vue, Vite, and Nuxt ecosystems. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_005.jpg\|300]] | This slide was not described in detail in the transcript but likely continues the narrative of Elk's development and community engagement. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_006.jpg\|300]] | This slide was not described in detail in the transcript but likely continues the narrative of Elk's development and community engagement. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_007.jpg\|300]] | The seventh slide presents statistics on Elk's community, noting 238 contributors, 34 languages, and 12 known community deployments, illustrating its widespread adoption and collaborative nature. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_008.jpg\|300]] | The eighth slide highlights Elk's features, such as chronological threading, code blocks with syntax highlighting, markdown formatting, and well-being options, showcasing its user-centric design. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_009.jpg\|300]] | The ninth slide focuses on Elk's support for code blocks and syntax highlighting, providing examples in HTML and JavaScript, which enhance the sharing of code within the platform. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_010.jpg\|300]] | The tenth slide demonstrates Elk's markdown formatting capabilities, allowing users to emphasize text and create structured posts, enhancing communication on the platform. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_011.jpg\|300]] | The eleventh slide introduces Elk's well-being settings, such as grayscale mode, which reduce visual stimulation and promote a more focused user experience. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_012.jpg\|300]] | The twelfth slide continues the focus on well-being features, highlighting Zen Mode, which simplifies the interface for distraction-free reading. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_013.jpg\|300]] | The thirteenth slide discusses additional well-being preferences, allowing users to hide various interface elements for a more personalized and less cluttered experience. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_014.jpg\|300]] | The fourteenth slide revisits the feature of chronological threading, emphasizing its role in making thread reading more intuitive and coherent. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_015.jpg\|300]] | The fifteenth slide outlines Elk's future goals, including achieving feature parity with Mastodon, improving administration features, and supporting single-server deployments. | ![[FOSDEM 2025/assets/Elk-A-Nimble-Client-for-Mastodon/preview_016.jpg\|300]] | The final slide invites attendees to join Elk's community at chat.elk.zone, thanking them for their interest and encouraging further engagement with the project. ## Links [PDF Presentation](https://fosdem.org/2025/events/attachments/fosdem-2025-5049-elk-a-nimble-client-for-mastodon/slides/238168/ELK-final_5B1Sv5t.pdf) [Video recording (AV1/WebM)](https://video.fosdem.org/2025/ud2208/fosdem-2025-5049-elk-a-nimble-client-for-mastodon.av1.webm) [Video recording (MP4)](https://video.fosdem.org/2025/ud2208/fosdem-2025-5049-elk-a-nimble-client-for-mastodon.av1.mp4) [Video recording subtitle file (VTT)](https://video.fosdem.org/2025/ud2208/fosdem-2025-5049-elk-a-nimble-client-for-mastodon.vtt)