The method I prefer most when posting to Steemit is from my laptop or desktop.
I love my keyboard shortcuts, and when properly motivated, I can really put my thoughts together fast from my desk. But, like I'm sure many of you here can also relate, I am many times AFK and just want to take a moment to post some of my thoughts without having to be chained to my desk.
And, as I'm sure many of you also can relate, posting on Steemit from a mobile device is just a gigantic pain in the ass.
Just yesterday, I was cursing my phone trying to input memorized markdown shortcuts and fumbling through multiple browser windows attempting to get all of my links in line. Just having a thought about making this post right now is taking me almost a half hour to complete to a level I believe is "Steemit acceptable". And I've been here for a year.
Imagine how this must feel for a new user!
Imagine Newb McSteemian not having markdown memorized and not really knowing how to make a headline or a bullet point list. You probably just gloss over their post because it looks weird and they walk away with a terrible user experience.
Sure, there are many excellent authors and curators around here promoting content that will educate users on how to make great posts. And, we have a great image import feature. I just don't think it's enough of an onboarding process for a new user.
But we have a mobile app, you might say!
Sure, we have eSteem for mobile devices. Just like Reddit had Alien Blue. Key emphasis on the word had. I'm guessing they changed strategies to make an official app to make sure users didn't have to follow a series of initial instructions or do som extra research to make sure they had the right app that connected with the right service.
Look, I seriously love this place. And just like anything I love, I love seeing it grow and be better over time. These are the things I think Steemit could instantly do to make the mobile experience improve as a whole:
1) Make markdown something the user has no idea about at all
Why not adopt a Medium style of text entry and have users make lists, bold, or italicize without making them interact with the "man behind the curtain"?
2) Insert a place for saved signatures.
Here is mine:
I love doing this from my desktop because I have it saved in a markup friendly editor. But, from mobile, I go to a previous post, click edit, copy my signature markup, and paste it at the end of my post.
Couldn't we save our signature for automatic entry at the end of every one of our posts? And, while I'm at it...
3) Saved Templates
It sure would be nice if I could save a template so I don't have to reinvent the wheel every time I would like to share a thought. I would gladly spend an hour taking the time to make a template for a future post and delete stuff to serve my purposes than have to do it all from scratch every time.
What so you think Steemit...are these reasonable requests?
Do you have any that are better? Let me know your thoughts below!
I tried creating a post from my mobile once and I must say the experience was horrible. The post looked really bad with a lot of whitespace, and weird letters were all over the place!
We have eSteem however I haven't tried it because I don't trust having my private keys in multiple places.
Instead I'll be just waiting for the official APP which is currently being in the works. So let's see how it will look like. I'll be definitely using it A LOT!
I don't think you are the only one with this experience either.
I would, in fact, be very curious to see stats on the percent of users that are coming into Steemit off of mobile devices and retention/churn rates from those users. People that are successful around here stick with it and just figure it all out. I think we can make the onboarding process so much better.
With the introduction of an official mobile App, things should start looking WAAAAY better.
Steemit works fine an a phone. I don't want a different UI
Honest question, where do you prefer to do your posting? Mobile or laptop/desktop?
Pc obviously. I hate doing anything on my phone.
That said i do post a lot on my phone.
In general i would like a better ui instead of two crappy uis. Phones now have HD resolutions so there is no need for different ui.
I do understand that others may see this differently (or not even own a laptop any more)
Damn right. I'm so glad you wrote this. It saved me the bother of writing it myself, and it's exactly what I would have said. I only use a mobile phone, I don't have a computer, and the first thing I said was 'where's the app so I can use this on my phone. ?' I'm sure it will be here soon. These are early days still. I'm going to Resteem this. Well written, Team leibniz. Thanks for posting.
This post received a 1.2% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @team-leibniz! For more information, click here!
yea i agree, good post!
So true, great article! It's at present so much easier to post from a laptop and it's likely discouraging for seasoned users and Newb McSteemian alike, haha.
oh, saved signature. I like that. I've been copying and pasting from notepad each time.