@bh4-tech Update: I think that community.nodebb.org is now running with latest commits from the develop branch and so remote images and videos can be viewed once we click on the attachment link. But I think the UX can be somewhat improved.
Current experience- A remote post contains a media file. The file(image) is not displayed below the text and only its link is displayed. An unaware user might not notice that it’s an image and not click on the link thinking it’s an external link and, in that case, will only see the text and so the post will feel awkward to the user.(I know that once any one user clicks on a link, the media gets loaded inline automatically for all other users, but even that also seems a good amount of friction). Also, if the forum is installed as PWA, clicking the media link will open it in a custom tab.
Possible improvement- Instead of the link, show a simmerring image loading animation(the one we see on instagram or youtube when images/thumbnails are loading) with the text “Click to view” and upon clicking on the animation the media gets loaded.
Yeah, not an ideal experience. I guess a placeholder as suggested above would be a better experience, especially for users not familiar with concept of fediverse.