BitShares UI Team released this Worker Proposal in February 2019. In order to understand more about the next steps for the BitShares reference interface, U.S. Blockchain conducted an interview with Magnus Anderson, the project manager. Magnus has a strong background in database and dynamic content websites.
Question: What major progress has the BitShares UI Team made recently in developing the UI, fixing bugs, and adding new features?
Anderson: The UI team has made continuous improvements in functionality, including user reported bugs, in addition to many other back-end items. In late 2018, we worked with the Core team to implement the possibility of collateral bidding directly in the wallet. This newly added feature attempts to mitigate the impact of global settlement towards SmartCoins. Much functionality was finished in the new style guide, and we continue working towards an easier and more unified component framework.
Question: What are the strategic adjustments and changes in the 2019 UI Team Worker Proposal, compared to 2018?
Anderson: The most noteworthy change is that we now have a team member dedicated [mostly] to UX related tasks. These include contacting, coordinating, and briefing designers on the progress of improving the overall layout of the application. We also work towards a more efficient implementation of new necessary functionality, compared to the past. The team will work towards a tighter process together with the BitShares Core Development Team. Also, the team will deliver new features and enhancements necessary for good functionality on a tighter schedule.
Question: What are the top priorities in the 2019 BitShares UI Team Worker Proposal?
Anderson: Improved performance will be one of the higher priorities. While design, as part of the new UX coordinator role by Ihor, is one part of this. Another will be working on underlying improvements of the application code and how it processes and handles communication with nodes. This is one reason why the new worker’s responsibility also includes projects like Beet and BitSharesJS.
Question: Some users in the community complained about the BitShares UI application. They thought that the User Experience is not friendly for on-boarding new users. Do you have any plan to solve the problem?
Anderson: We have heard the community. The BitShares exchange provides great features and enables complex operations, which is good for users that have such requirements. However, it can also give new users a sense of being lost in features, or misunderstanding what they are. The aim of the reference UI is to act as a showcase of what is possible, so it should give both new and experienced users the feeling of empowerment that they seek for everyday usage.
Question: What are the major challenges that BitShares community faces today, as far as you can see?
Anderson: In my opinion, the largest challenge the BitShares community faces today is the need to inform users and let them understand what we can give them. BitShares is a platform where we should give all users (new, old or potential) the same feeling. While the BitShares platform has always given its technical strength, it has not always given the ease of use. I can see the community want to give users this, and we’ve done some great things in just the last year towards it. The development of Beet by Clockwork is one great example. Another example is that we will work on issues from a UX perspective to improve the experience, something that our new UX coordinator Ihor will be very active in.
Question: What can be expected from the new Beet project?
Anderson: I would say that the new Beet platform will give the community a great boost in the possibility of integrating the BitShares ecosystem in users everyday utility. The ability to make on-chain operations a simple click-and-sign task is consequently a very positive boost. I’m sure that there are many things to come that will show the strength it has.
At the end of the interview, Magnus also expressed his confidence and expectation for the future of the BitShares platform. BitShares focuses on maintaining an edge as the first high performance DPoS blockchain. Adding the ability to perform atomic swaps during the Protocol Upgrade in May was an exciting achievement.
Click here to read the full 2019 worker proposal by BitShares UI team.
Posted from BitShares News using SteemPress, see: https://news.bitshares.org/2019-bitshares-ui-team-proposal/