The Actifit Series: New Website features & other updates (Episode 12)

Repository

https://github.com/mcfarhat/actifit/

A. Introduction

There exists three different platforms created by the Actifit project for its users to make their posts from, edit, upvote or view other necessary information. Majority of users, especially Android Users are familiar with the Actifit Android app because it was the first platform to be created. It is also a necessity for submitting Actifit daily report cards to the blockchain. The second platform is the Actifit iOS app. This app was built for iOS smartphone users who are interested in engaging in Activity and Fitness and receiving financial rewards for their efforts.

The third platform is the Actifit.io website. This website was initially created so users can view the Actifit tokens balance as well as other information about the project. I have written about the Actifit website in a previous post. Here’s the link to the post - The Actifit Website Explained (Episode 5). Over the few months of its existence, this website has been updated consistently with new features and functionalities for users and community members of the project.

In this post, I'd talk about this website and some of the new features and functionalities recently implemented on the website. I will discuss them in details and what they portend for users of the project. I will also pen down my thoughts about each of them.

B. The Actifit Vision

There is hardly any project begun in the world today that does not have a vision. A vision is the starting point of a project, and also a criteria to know if the project is doing well or not. We remember Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb in 1879. Edison had the vision of inventing a light bulb and despite several failures, he kept on trying several ways to ensure that he achieved his goal. Finally, his trials paid off and he ended up as the inventor of the light bulb.

His vision was what propelled him to move forward, and it is also what propels all other projects. It also propels other projects like Actifit and other dApps to continuously make changes, implement new features and functionalities and send out new upgrades. The vision of the Actifit project is to incentivize users for engaging in activity and fitness exercises using the activity app as a yardstick. Thus, all users need to do is to engage in one or more activities, record their activity count with the Actifit app, and post to the Steem blockchain.

The resultant post is then upvoted by the official Actifit account, while AFIT tokens are sent out to eligible users. These are incentives given to users for maintaining their health, and using the Actifit platforms. Several changes occur regularly on these platforms and in this post, I will be talking about some of them.

C. The Actifit website - New update and features

Apart from the Actifit android app and the iOS app, the Actifit.io website is another platform created for users to use in accessing and editing their posts and other information. I prefer to use this website a lot when working on my Actifit posts instead of other Steem front ends. This is because I get to see all of my information in one place. My user rank, affords tokens balance, activity count and other information are all present on the Actifit.io website. Below, we will discuss some of the new updates and how they affect user experience from a personal point of view.

1. Enhancing Actifit report cards.

In order to make the Actifit website more informative and enriching, some changes and enhancements have been implemented. Now, each Actifit post is displayed with the Steem/SBD rewards, as well as the AFIT tokens reward at the bottom of the post in the report card layout. The amount of Steem/SBD the post garners increases as it is upvoted by members of the blockchain. However, the AFIT tokens remains zero for contributions made that day until they have been upvoted by the Actifit bot.

My Thoughts

These enhancements are good because now, users only need to visit the Actifit.io platform to see all their rewards in one place. Before now, you'd need to access your wallet and go through the transaction history to see rewards, and the rewards summary attached to each one. Now, you can take note of your earnings on Actifit just as you can see your Steem/SBD earnings via Steemit just by looking at your Actifit daily report cards. I like this new feature a lot as it brings everything to come place for me to see and digest. I'm quite sure a lot other users would like it as well.

2. Addition of User Rank

In a previous post, I discussed in details about the user rank, why it comes into play, and the criteria for deciding each members rank. Now, Actifit has implemented it in such a way that each person's user rank is shown in his activity report card post just beside his or her name. This rank is in red color, and with a circular red ring around it. This user rank is very important as it goes a long way to decide what each user receives when the Actifit voting bot votes.

This is a minor addition, but I feel that the good thing about this is that when users are always seeing their ranks, they begin to think out ways to improve it. For example, my user rank is quite low, so on constantly seeing it, I have begun thinking of ways to increase it. This would now lead to my consistent interaction with the app, thus help achieve Actifit's goal of user retention and engagement. Apart from where it appears close to the username on the activity post, the user rank of each person also appears in his or her user menu as well.

3. Fixes to the wallet history order

On all Actifit platforms, users have the ability to check the status of their wallets, and the AFIT tokens balance they have in there. In the same place, they can also view their transactions summary just below their token balance. This transaction summary shows all transactions that brought about the balance of the tokens each user has.

Recently, there were issues with the wallet transaction summary history. Several users complained of the inability to view their transactions history. The reason for this anomaly was the fact that all delegation transactions were appearing above the other transaction history. This therefore made it impossible for users to view their new to recent transactions on both the app and the website.

A fix was however recently sent out to take care of this issue. Now, all previous transactions history, as well as upcoming transaction summary, will be shown correctly where they are supposed to be. That is the newest transactions will be shown first, and then older ones will be shown as you keep scrolling till you get to the bottom. There, you would see the oldest or the very first transaction summary you got from Actifit.

D. Actifit and its fight against abuse

Up to date, some people still see Actifit as a platform via which users abuse the Steem blockchain, plagiarize the post of others and post meaningless comments. Due to this negative outlook on the platform, Actifit made it a point of duty to extensively kill off this perception by fighting all forms of abuse on its various platforms. This fight has carried on in several forms and has led to the banning of several users of Actifit numbering not less than 130 for different offences.

Several updates, fixes and app upgrades have also been sent out with the aim of curbing abuse on Actifit platforms. Certain rules have also been updated to ensure that they are also yardsticks for judging what abuse is and what abuse is not. For example, there is a rule that limits the minimum number of characters a user can make in his or her post to 100 characters. This and many more are all geared towards fighting abuse in all forms. In another post, I'll talk about plagiarism and Actifit's fight against this menace.

See you next time.

I remain your favorite dApps presenter,
_{@curtwriter
Chat with us on discord | Visit our website
FAQs | Android app tutorial | Video Tutorial}

Resources

A. https://steemit.com/actifit/@actifit/actifit-daily-47-102k-thank-you-to-delegators-sponsored-competition-rewarded-top-actifitters
B. Other pictures were screenshots from my device.

Series Backlinks

• Project Promotion: All You Need to Know About Actifit, The New Fitness App on The Blockchain!!
• The Actifit Series - Actifit Development Updates V0.1 - V0.3 [Episode 2]
• The Actifit Series - Actifit Development Update V.0.3.1 And other Updates [Episode 3]
• The Actifit Series - Decommissioned Versions and Other Updates [Episode 4]
• The Actifit Website Explained (Episode 5)
• Actifit iOS version & other Developmental Updates (Episode 6)
• The Actifit Series: iOS App, New iOS version 0.3.3 and other updates (Episode 7)
• The Actifit Series - Aftermath of the HF20, Impact on Actifit and other updates (Episode 8)
• The Actifit Series: The Android V 0.3.4 Release [Episode 9]
• The Actifit Series: Actifit V2 Reward System And Other Updates (Episode 10)
• The Actifit Series: Automated Account Claims, Image Hosting Server & Other Updates (Episode 11)