Let's talk about eSteem Surfer (Episode 1)

Repository

https://github.com/esteemapp/esteem-surfer

A. Introduction

The Steem blockchain is a beautiful platform which has played a great role in the emergence of several lovely dApps. Most of these dApps have in one way or the other, proved to be of significant value to users of the platform. Some of us may have come across the likes of Utopian, Steemhunt, Actifit, d-like, Musing and several others.

All of these mentioned so far are frontends to the Steem blockchain. However, each of them have their own area of focus and niches. For example, Utopian focuses on rewarding users for contributing to the building and development of open source projects and applications. Actifit rewards its users for engaging in physical and health fitness activities. Musing on the other hand, is just like Quora and rewards users for asking questions, and giving answers to questions asked via its platform.

However, there are some other dApps, projects and communities on the block chain that have no particular areas of focus. To start with, I'd mention the Partiko mobile app, built so that users of the Steem blockchain can blog on-the-go from their mobile devices. There is also 1Ramp, another mobile app as well. We also have the esteem application. All these are built for the same purpose. With these apps, you are not limited in terms of the content you can see or contribute as your Steem blog is accessible via these platforms

In this article, we will look at one of the other dApps that have existed on the Steem blockchain for a while now - the eSteem Surfer. This app is a desktop client for users who wish to access the Steem blockchain without having to use their Chrome or Firefox browser. Simply power up your esteem Surfer app and surf away.

B. What is eSteem

eSteem is a project built on the Steem blockchain to serve as another gateway for users and members. This simply means that if you do not wish to use Steemit.com, busy.org or other front ends, you can log in to the Steem blockchain via eSteem.

eSteem as a project has three major platforms. These include:

• eSteem Mobile: This is the mobile version of the eSteem project. Users can download the application from their Google playstore and install it on their Android device. Once installed, they can now log in and access their Steem blog page.

• eSteem iOS: The eSteem iOS platform was created for users of Apple and iOS devices. Just as with the eSteem desktop Android app, you can download esteem for iOS from your app store, install and begin using it right away.

• eSteem Surfer - There is yet another eSteem platform and this is the one we will be looking at today - the eSteem Surfer. eSteem Surfer is the desktop client version of eSteem. It is downloadable via esteem.app, app.co or via eSteem's Github - eSteem Surfer Github. You can download either for your Windows, Mac or Linux devices. Once downloaded, install and begin using it on your laptop or desktop device.

C. A brief history of eSteem Surfer

The eSteem Surfer desktop client was first announced about 6 months ago by its creator, @good-karma. As explained in the introduction post, the eSteem Surfer was coming preloaded with most of the features already present on the mobile version of the eSteem project. It was also expected to serve only Windows, Linux and Mac users.

The first version of the eSteem Surfer, version 1.0.0 came with the drafts, post scheduling, multi accounts and wallets features among others. If you previously use the eSteem mobile on your phone, once you login onto the desktop client, your drafts, bookmarks and images are immediately synced to the desktop version. Therefore, you have no fear of losing anything with this new software.

So far, several versions have been released in the past. These versions usually come with new features and the eSteem team has really done a fine job in terms of frequency of updates. As such, it is safe to say that the eSteem Surfer software is not a redundant app.

D. Why use the esteem Surfer app.

Of course, almost everyone has a smartphone. You can simply open up your browser, input steemit.com and access your blog after logging in. So why does anyone need a custom server desktop client?

In fact, if you do not want to use a browser, you can always download a Steem front end app. There are a number of these apps currently present such as the eSteem mobile, Partiko, 1Ramp, and a host of others. So why do I need to download and use a desktop client? I am equally considering the fact that my smartphone is quite handy. It even avails me the ability to carry it on me always and blog on the go!

Well, the truth is that the smartphone revolution has made life easy for everyone. However, there are a number of us who are traditional and find it difficult to make the switch to new trends and development. This is not to say that I do not use my smart phone for browsing.

The thing is, I find it quite easy and more comfortable accessing Steemit on my laptop than on my phone. In fact, I never Steem with my phone. All I do on the Steem blockchain is done through my laptop. The wide screen and the spacious keys on the keyboard makes it quite convenient for me to use.

Therefore, it is only safe to say that downloading and using the esteem Surfer desktop client would be an added experience for me and others like me.

The many features present on the eSteem Surfer desktop client makes it such a great app for users. One beautiful feature of the eSteem Surfer is the draft saving feature. Let's say you begin writing a post this morning and you are unable to finish it before heading out for work. With the eSteem Surfer, your unfinished post is saved as a draft and you can return to edit it anytime you want to.

Also, these drafts get to sync with the mobile version of esteem. For example, with the scenario shared above, you have your drafts saved and you are at work. Luckily, you get to access some free time at work and you wish to conclude the post on your mobile device. With eSteem mobile, all you need do is to login, and access your drafts on the smartphone, finish up and post to the Steem blockchain. As simple as that.

Another innovative feature of the Steem Surfer desktop client is the post scheduling feature. For those of us who work from Monday to Friday, we know how hectic it can be. As such, there is hardly the time to write articles and stuffs. In fact, Saturdays and Sundays are the only days we have for washing clothes, doing our house chores and then writing. As such, it is always hard to fit in all of this into our schedule for the week.

However, with the post scheduling feature on eSteem Surfer, you can write as much articles as you want over the weekend and schedule them to be posted as you want them to be posted. You could write up to seven articles for each day of the week and schedule them to be posted one everyday at the same time for the next seven days.

These are some of the features present on the eSteem Surfer desktop client that makes it an extremely lovely app to use. A dedicated desktop client for steeming on a wide screen device - what more can you ask for?

Conclusion

The eSteem desktop client is one application I am pretty enthusiastic about. This is probably because it is the kind of app I am comfortable with using and because of the features it comes loaded with. I'm sure you'll be as excited as I am when you download and begin using the eSteem Surfer.

So far, we have been able to learn what the eSteem desktop client is all about and the kinds of operating systems it can be installed on. We have also looked at some of the great features of this open source project.

In the next episode of this series, we will look at other things like installation, signing in and how we can use the eSteem Surfer desktop client. We will also look at some other features of the eSteem Surfer.

I hope to see you on the next episode of this series. Have a nice week ahead.

I remain your amazing dApps presenter, @curtwriter.

Resources

A. https://steemit.com/esteem/@good-karma/esteem-surfer-1-0-0-release-79775e065812d

Series Backlinks

This is the first post in this series