I like the website, I really do.
But there are some things I would change to add functionality to the website and make it easier to use. Seeing as how I don't have any experience designing websites or coding, I decided to put my ideas on Steemit in the hopes that someone who matters will get inspired.
1. A Steem Conversion Keep-Tracker-Ofer
Since I don't generate a lot of Steem from my content, I've decided to reinvest everything I get back into Steem Power to try and increase my voting weight. I've seen some people use the #poweruppledge hashtag, and I like the spirit of the pledge. Given the existence of this pledge and the sentiments of people like myself, there are undoubtedly a lot of people converting Steem Dollars into Steem via the website's conversion tool. It would be nice if there was a way to view conversion orders on the website and how long is left until they are fulfilled. Granted, converting SD into Steem using an exchange is quicker and possibly more popular, but that method moves SD around rather than taking them out of circulation (as I assume the conversion process does)
2. Multiple Saved Drafts
I'm sure most of us have been in a situation where we are writing a story in Steemit's story editor and accidentally change webpages. The first time this happened to me, I was in a panic until I clicked the "Submit a Story" button and found that my draft was saved. This is a great feature and I am overjoyed that it was included early on. One way to make this feature better would be to allow people to save and manage multiple drafts. If possible, maybe there could be an automated post feature, allowing users who do daily or weekly blogs to write them beforehand but only submit them when the time is right. This would be great for someone who wants to take a vacation or will not have access to the internet for a long period of time.
3. Dedicated Search
I'm not gonna lie...I hate Google Custom Search. In my opinion, it makes the website look unfinished or unprofessional, and represents the only major design hangup I can think of right now. Search is an important part of Steemit and how we interact with the website, and a dedicated search filter has been implemented in the tags/topics side bar. A true search function would round off a major sharp corner on Steemit's overall design and would not only make searching faster, but could possibly keep new users on the website who would be put off by the function's appearance. It may not do much, but in my opinion a true search function would help with the "scam" image many people already hold when they come here, since it would show the website had a lot of thought put into it.
4. A Faster-Bubbling Trending Tab
This one is probably really obvious to anyone who's been on Steem and even those who have just visited the website and left. The trending tab does not rotate very quickly, and posts can often get stuck there long after they have stopped paying out. I'm not sure how complicated it would be, but if possible it might help to link an article's time on the Trending tab to how much of its curation rewards have been spent, or the total time spent on the tab. Another possibility would be to include newer posts that have received worthwhile attention in a short amount of time. The Trending tab is the first thing people see when they come to this website and it's also the place we're taken when we press the Steem logo in the top left corner of the page. It would be nice to have a different set of articles on the main page whenever we go there, or close to it.
5. A Dedicated Mobile App
Alright, I had to throw this one on there. It should be pretty self-explanatory. This idea is much more of a long shot and I know several are in development, but I felt obligated to include it anyways.
Love Is All I Got
Only love in my life, Love is all...sorry, got carried away with a tune there. But for real, I only have love for how far this page has come and the design choices that have been employed so far. I joined this site before the most recent redesign of the user page (the Blog/Feed/Wallet/etc tab) and completely lost it when the new design came out. "Ah," I said to myself, "Now this looks like a professional website." I can't wait to see where things go next and I'm looking forward to several more of those "Aha! Professionalism!" moments.
And since I teased you with my singing, I feel obligated to include this Feed Me plug: