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Youlag (v4.3.0) - YouTube viewing in FreshRSS: Improved browsing experience (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 week ago by lent9004@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Youlag is a FreshRSS extension that allows you to browse your YouTube and article RSS feeds through a modernized design that incorporates quality-of-life features.

It is designed for a distraction-free experience, for people who want to be intentional about their viewing habits.

Why?

Subscribe to creators via RSS without a Google account, stay free of algorithms, and access your subscriptions from any device. Youlag can also be used just for article reading.

Highlights v4.3.0

  • Video entries supports direct links and can now e.g. be opened in new tabs.
  • The floating miniplayer restores position and autoplays on its own when you navigate, so no more manually hitting play.
  • Mobile: Swipe left side of the screen to open/close the sidebar.
  • Hide description intro if it contain links; reduce chance of seeing sponsored content.

View full changelog

Other features

  • Block incoming YouTube shorts
  • Replace clickbait thumbnails/titles, via DeArrow
  • Whitelist specific categories to use the video mode layout, leave rest in article mode
  • Floating miniplayer that follows across pages; read articles while watching videos
  • Supports Invidious

Find more details: https://github.com/civilblur/youlag

top 9 comments
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[-] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 week ago

So, cool and all, but I've been using freshrss with libredirect and freetube for this for ages, and it's great when freetube works, which with the cat and mouse with youtube is less often than I'd like (kudos to freetube, great project).

Honestly what I'd really like is something to download rss yt vid to a cache with yt-dlp (which breaks much less), grab the sponsorblock and pipe to something light and distraction free like mpv or vlc. Clear the cache after a day or whatever.

Anyone seen anything like this ?

[-] lent9004@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

You can catch the previous thread here, where there was a discussion about this using Pinchflat: https://lemmy.world/post/42859073

[-] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 1 points 6 days ago

Pinchflat

Thanks, looks like it could work, bit more than I want, and it'll need integrating, but it is what it is. I'll see if it's worth the pain to transition.

Of course there's this...

MonkCanatella @sh.itjust.works English

I just have a somewhat annoying yt dlp script that runs on a schedule on my computer that downloads all my subscriptions. I tried everything else including pinchflat and it wasn’t really much of an improvement tbh.

TheLeadenSea
@sh.itjust.works
English

Could you share that script please? I’d like to set up something similar
    MonkCanatella
    @sh.itjust.works
    English

    Give me a bit, I’ll set up a gist with the details!
        TheLeadenSea
        @sh.itjust.works
        English

        Thanks!

followed by crickets. Such is life.

[-] jay@mbin.zerojay.com 1 points 6 days ago

This looks great but unfortunately, it stops keyboard controls from working.

[-] lent9004@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Youlag adds its own keyboard control, so it might be interfering with FreshRSS' default ones. I personally never utilized any of FreshRSS' keyboard shortcuts and might have overlooked that aspect.

If you don't mind opening an issue in the repo with the relevant context, I might be able to look into it in the future.

[-] irmadlad@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

Supports Invidious

As I was reading down the post, that's what I was thinking. Would be great to pipe it through Invideous. I may have my next project.

[-] lent9004@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

I was actually contemplating if I should've omitted the mention of Invidious, seeing how it is a niche feature, but I guess it was the right call to keep it.

[-] femtek 8 points 1 week ago

This looks great, the whole setup. I have been wanting a way for my kid to have a more curated access to YouTube.

[-] rogsson@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

Cool, this looks great!

this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
157 points (100.0% liked)

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