GitHub for Atom launches new pull request features and emoji support

Users of GitHub.com's popular Atom platform now have access to a range of new feature updates including pull request list views, pull request creation, hover card functionality, and emoji support. GitHub says the new features are just a few of a swath of improvements that will be coming to Atom.

The new pull request list view allows users to see the most recent pull requests in the GitHub tab within Atom. This will provide information including the author's avatar, pull request title, pull request status, organisation, repository and pull request number, a checkout button, a refresh button, CI and build status, pull request description, and reactions

"After this information, you will find the same conversation view you would see on GitHub.com. Sometimes, it may be something as simple as the list of commits and other times it might be an entire conversation," GitHub explains.

Users can also create new pull requests directly from Atom. Users can start from master and use the GitHub pane to either create a new branch or check out an existing branch.

"If you create a new branch, you will be prompted to start making changes to your branch. Finally, if you make changes, stage them, and commit to your branch, you will be invited to publish your branch and create a pull request with those changes.

"Clicking Publish + open a new pull request will launch your browser at the draft of your pull request on GitHub.com. There, you can add an extensive description, reviewers, labels, and more. "

When users mention others, they now have the ability to enable hover card functionality in @mentions and other issues.

Finally, Atom now supports emoji to make the experience more consistent with GitHub.com. And, the company says, Atom is a bit more entertaining.

GitHub for Atom says it's looking forward to improving the package. To understand more about its users, how they write code and how they interact with others, the company is conducting usability studies.

What's more, GitHub for Atom now pulls telemetry from users so it can understand what features are useful and what ones aren't being used too much.

"We invite you to revisit your opt-in decision on metrics if you're interested in helping us improve our package by sending metrics through our secure GitHub data pipeline. Just open your Atom Preferences and choose Allow limited anonymous usage states, exception, and crash reporting," the company concludes.