Problem
Post previews in feed listings currently show only the title and a plain text excerpt. If a post contains an image (cover or inline) and a meaningful first paragraph, neither is visible until you open the post. This makes feeds feel flat and makes it harder to scan for interesting content.
Proposed behavior
In any feed where posts are listed (space feed, home feed, profile posts):
- Image preview. If the post has a cover image, show it as a card thumbnail. If there is no cover but the post body starts with or contains an inline image, use that as the preview image.
- First paragraph. Below the title, show the first paragraph of the post body (rendered markdown, not raw), truncated to ~200 characters with ellipsis. This replaces the current plain-text excerpt.
Together these two changes turn the feed from a list of titles into a scannable content stream — closer to how Reddit, Lemmy, or Mastodon display posts.
Why it matters
- Posts with images get significantly more engagement when the image is visible in the feed.
- The first paragraph usually contains the hook or summary — hiding it behind a click wastes it.
- For spaces like Shots (photography), the feed is almost unusable without image previews.
Design considerations
- Keep the layout compact. A small thumbnail (e.g., 120x120 or 16:9 card) is enough — no full-width hero images in the feed.
- Respect NSFW flags: blur or hide images from NSFW-marked posts unless the user has opted in.
- For text-only posts, the first-paragraph preview alone is still a clear improvement.
- Mobile: image on top, text below (stacked). Desktop: image left, text right (card) or image on top (magazine).