DISCLAIMER
First, I feel like I should mention that I am using DBLOG on a FireHD8, which is a 8" tablet from Amazon that I have installed Google Play Store on. I am also using the Brave browser. With that being said, lets move to my first impressions of dblog...
MY BACKGROUND EXPERIENCE
I have used many blogging applications and even designed themes for most of them. I even wrote documentation for a one.
HOW I FOUND DBLOG
I came across DBLOG while trying to understand cryptocurrency, blockchain, decentralisation, and web3.0 better. Earlier this year I stopped blogging due to fear of censorship, and didn't want to invest time in something that I might lose in the future just because I might have a different opinion or view on a matter. When I saw that DBLOG was decentralized, I became intrigued.
MY EXPERIENCE USING DBLOG TODAY
Below, I will talk about my user experience with the application after exporing the application for about 15 minutes, then spending about 45 minutes writing this article. In a nutshell, this is my experience after about an hour on it.
CREATING A DBLOG
I have to admit, I signed up on Hive just to get a DBLOG yesterday, but after setting up HiveSigner, could not login to DBLOG at all yesterday, and most of the day today. It kept throwing an error without details as to what the problem was. Oh well, at least I'm in now. Hopefully it won't continue to be a problem.
ADMIN UI DESIGN IN DBLOG
I really like the UI design here. Everything here is kept clean and simple. While using my 8" tablet, everything still fits just right in regards to responsive design. However, I did notice a few fields where the input container was full width, but the actual input fields was only about 5 letters wide before I had to start scrolling horizontally to see what I was writing(ex: blockchain tags field). It is hard for me to say what the problem is without inspecting the code, I am certain though it can be fixed via CSS.
AVAILABLE SETTINGS IN DBLOG
I really like how this app isn't bloated with unnecessary settings options, but still offers important ones like custom domains. The only settings that I really wish it had was the ability to create pages, and the option to set one of them as the homepage. Also, there doesn't seem to be an option to turn off comments per post?
WRITING A POST IN DBLOG
While writing this blog post, which is my first post on dblog, is a decent experience. I would have said a great experience, except that when I jump back to the middle of a sentence to re-word something differently, or fix a typo, the cursor randomly jumps somewhere else at while I am in the middle of typing. Although, as long as I am not going back and making changes, it works great. Also, I noticed that I cannot highlight text properly via touch.
COMPANY CONCERNS
I have concerns about DBLOG though. It doesn't seem like it has been updated or expanded on in over a year. We haven't even heard from the author in awhile(that I can see)? Also, is it ENGRAVE or is it DBLOG?
CONCLUSION
Would I recommend DBLOG to friends and family? Yes, I would. DBLOG is decentralized, free, and you can still make money on it without placing ADs all over the place, ruining the user experience. Would I recommend it to business that needs a simple blog? No, I wouldn't. Simply because branding here is just limited. You cannot modify the theme, upload a logo, or put custom links in the footer, among other things.
All in all, I give DBLOG a big thumbs up and hope to see it grow. I strongly recommend it to anyone who just wants to start blogging right away for free. I think I might even recommend it over Wordpress or Blogger. It is hard to say only after writing one article.