Yesterday I made a minor "crowdsourcing" on different platforms people are using other than "Steemit.com". Among them came a suggestion from @joeohs to check out a certain platform that goes by the name steempeak.com
Probably a lot of people knows about it but for those of you there yet have not discovered this gem just yet. I would advise you after reading this article if this platform is something you would want to use instead of the traditional "steemit.com". I am to say the least blasted away how much great details and features went into creating this website. Let me give you are a quick overview of what I am so impressed by!
The interface is easy to navigate and minimalistic despite it's rich features
When first logging into SteemPeak it is easy and very familiar to other layouts in the steem world. This means it came very natural to me how to move around on the website. In fact, it looks in some way similar to Steemit.com but still, they managed to put it up in a much simpler way and intuitive way.
In contrast to Steemit.com when I first signed in, I was actually struggling a bit. But on SteemPeak I got a feeling that everything would come easily to me, even if I would be new.
But this is actually just a trivial factor compared to much else this platform has to offer. Let's go a bit into details what makes SteemPeak stand out from all the other options!
The Dashboard ?!
What a great idea to implement a dashboard. Also, the graphs are such a neat detail! In a place like the steem blockchain where investments and gains are an important part of the daily lives of many Steemians this just fits right in. While other "information-oriented websites" do the same, if not even more detailed. It is great to have this quick overview from the website you would use for also blogging and reading. Also if you wish you can "Load more data" to expand the dates of the graphs. While I think it could be improved upon such as being able to choose the dates yourself, it is still a great start and I would not be surprised if there would improve upon this feature even more.
Also if you have a keen eye on this screenshot, you see on the dashboard has some other VERY interesting features that we will cover in just a moment!
Scheduled posts are probably what sold me
When you wanted something you didn't know and a person jumps out of a bush to offer you it, you are like: "YES, that is exactly what I want"
That was kind of my response when I saw you now could make Scheduled posts. The fact that I now can write my blogs in the morning, put it on the schedule for a better "time" to post is just awesome. In fact, I can imagine all kind of uses for this feature. What if I want to write two posts in a day? Then I can just split them out over the week and tell the website when to post them.
In this way, I can exactly whenever I want without too much hassle.
Templates to make your life easier
Do you have some standard templates you like to use for your posts? Well then why not just have them stored where you write, blog and read? I love the fact that they implemented templates. Not that I use any right now, but maybe with this easy feature I will create some templates that are easy to just take from the same site I am using. There's just something about not needing to have it in some separate document laying on my pc.
Last but not least, portfolio
Having a portfolio seems like a great feature for photographers or other artists that want their work to be a bit more "permanent" on the blog. Although I am super excited for this feature it still seems to be a bit new or maybe I just don't understand it quite yet.
It seems a bit random what pictures it puts up there with no specific order. For example, some of these pictures are more than half a year old. I did not manage to find a way to sort this out for my own liking. But if they could manage to make this feature more costumizable, my life would be complete.
My overall verdict
the team of @steempeak did a great job creating a platform that brings something fresh to the steem blockchain and I am more than satisfied with what they achieved so far. It is great to see how professionally they managed to make it and while at the same time make it feel fun to use.
This website is still somewhat "new" and because of that some of the features could still, in my humble opinion use some work and added features(features to the features?). But even as it is now I would still choose it over sites such as busy and Steemit.com simply because it has features I don't see anywhere else.
While these were to me, the highlights of the steempeak.com there was still tons of smaller stuff that seemed to make life just a little easier for a committed steem blogger.
There's no doubt in my mind I will probably move away from Steemit.com and busy to use this well-made platform even more. Good job @steempeak!
-holm