Recently @fedikus, Scorum Lead UX Designer asked about the set of new tools that would assist creating high level content, and improving user experience. After reading that post, I thought of writing a post, and give my opinion to this platform.

After a long wait, I signed up in the first hour when the platform was announced. I was so excited about it, and I was happy to find such a cool interface and the editor. Before going what, we need to improve, here are the things which I appreciate about this platform and I am thankful for the whole team who gave us this wonderful platform.

The Good

  1. Text Editor:
    Text editor is just WoW, its like using basic MS Word. You can easily bold the text, italics, underline, or add hyperlink by just selecting the text. The options just pop up. Even you can use keyboard shortcut like in MS Word for editing, which is appreciable.

  2. Home page Interface:
    The interface of Scorum is eye-catchy, and it can attract users in its first sight. All the preview of the post has header image on it making it more attractive. Another best part is each individual sport are segregated and are not mixed up. You can easily navigate the sport of your choice from the main page, and don't have to waste your time finding the articles of the sport you like.

  3. Profile Interface:
    The interface of the profile is wonderful. You can add your profile picture, cover picture, and short bio of yourself. The better part is you can easily see your SCR, SP and voting power in the profile. You don't have to go through wallet and find the details.
     
  4. More than a blogging platform:
    Scorum is more than a blogging platform as fantasy sports, betting, statistics center is integrated on it which makes Scorum a great place for a sports fan. I really like the statistics center and is a great tool for blogging. Betting is yet to be announced. Fantasy draft is another thing I liked about in this platform. Not many people play it but its great and you should try.

  5. There are other many more I appreciate about this platform although it is in its beta form.

The bad/The ugly (What I think should be improved):

I don't mean they are bad/ugly. They are just my opinions on what should be improved:

  1. Notification: 
    Notification is one of the concern in Steemit too, and Steemit users use external tools to get the notification. But the problem is bigger in Scorum, as you can't even see your comments and replies. You have no idea where you commented, and if you got a reply. You must open every of the blog you commented to see if they replied you. Comment and replies are one of the way people will interact and get engaged, and no interaction is possible when you don't know about the reply you get. 
  2.  News feed:
    The other concern here is news feed, as you won't see the post from the people you followed. You follow the authors you like, your friends to see the post from them.
  3. Text Editor:
    Although text editor is one of the best thing I like about Scorum, there should be couple of improvements to be made. The addition of preview for the article you wrote would be great. Also, inserting table, coloring a text, and different size header would be good addition. The publish option is not user friendly at all. After completion of writing, you must go way up again to find it. It would be best if the publish button is at the end of the page along with options to add tags. Also, I would love to have option to paste the sniped images like in MS Word/Steemit.
  4. Comments:
    Commenting is so plain, and you can't format your text. Adding all the features of text editor on comments will be fantastic. If I am missing something, I didn't find a way to edit comments or delete it.

  5. Profile:
    Profile is another serious concern I would like to raise. Although the layout for the profile is fantastic, there are many things missing. First the post you made should be displayed in ascending order in your profile, which means the new post needs to be at the top. I would like to see options to view comments and replies, so that we know what we commented and what reply we got. It would be great if the status of incoming and outgoing vote could be made available in your profile.

  6. Rewards:
    I read somewhere, the work is in progress to know details of the post payout and the curation reward.

  7. Saving Draft:
    This is another feature I would like to have, to save your writing automatically/manually as a draft, as it would reduce pain in ass for the writer when they can't complete the post in single sitting.

  8. IOS/Android Applications:
    Mobile application will be another great tool to attract more users. People around the world feel more comfortable using the mobile application than browsing the web.

I would like to remind you all that I am not a tech guy, or an expert. These opinions are entirely an experience of a non-tech guy using this platform. I apologize if I misunderstood anything, and wrote it here, and I am ready to take feedback and improve my post.

These are entirely personal opinion, and I know it is hard to implement all of them, or there may be options for it and I am not familiar. The dev team is working hard and bringing new addition soon.