There was a post a few days ago by detailing the launch of an exciting new Hive project within the
portfolio - My Own Page
Basically, it allows Hive users to create their own website. It's part of the Hive blockchain, so it is permanent without having to worry about annual payments to domain nominars etc.
It's basically free if you already have a Hive account (so if you haven't, I guess you'll need to create an account and power up some HP). It comes with an advertising banner, which can be removed by delegating HP to - personally I'm torn between delegating to help pay for the project, and not delegating and thus helping to advertise it ! 😁
Although I've got my own business website, I've actually thought of a good use case for a personal one. For creative writing posts that cover a long story arc, having a web page listing them and a single link to it on each post seems far more graceful than a long list of links to each episode at the bottom.
So I'm going to try to get it started. This post is literally a "live" first time walkthrough; I've no idea how it's going to go, I'll basically post a screenshot and any commentary needed, and see how far I get before bedtime !
The First Screen
As you can see from the slider on the right, there's quite a bit of explanatory info further down the page, this shot is just what is "above the fold". Hit the big red button and get underway - it'll take you to the familiar Keychain login.
Picking A Template
On this screen, you get to pick a template for your site. I notice that the Home page says there are 10 templates, and it's already grown by two more 😀
I've got two pieces of constructive criticism here (or maybe I should say suggestions for the roadmap). First, it would be good to know if I can switch between templates if it turns out I've picked the wrong one. Second, it would be lovely to see a small screenshot (possibly a link opening in a new tab or window) of what the template looks like as well as the outline description.
Your Dashboard
This is your dashboard. A couple of things I discovered rapidly.
First, bookmark this page ! It doesn't seem to be accessible from your actual website page.
To me, this is actually a really good thing. Keeping the admin panel of a website secure and relatively well hidden is absolutely essential in this day and age. I lost track of how many people tried to access one of my business sites by typing the url followed by "/admin" and then trying to brute force a password for the admin@ email address. But I'm not daft, I used a totally different email address, admin was just a honeytrap 😈
Second; the "Theme" button takes you back to the templates page, which is really good if you picked the wrong template. Note that if you change template, EVERYTHING you made is wiped out. It should maybe come with an "are you really sure you want to do this ?" warning !
Armed with this knowledge, I was able to have a quick browse around some of the themes. They are all very different, and there has clearly been a lot of thought put into each of them. It's purely a personal preference, but I also like that there are none of the stock images of businesspeople holding cups of coffee and wearing cheesy grins that clutter so many other pre-populated webpages.
A Sample Page Design Screen
This is a sample design screen for a blank page. There is sooooo much here it's going to take a while to work out what it's all for. A lot of it is basically drag & drop WYSIWYG, but it'll still take a techno-moron like me awhile to work out how to make it do all the things I'd like it to, stuff like changing text colour etc.
I guess in time we can all work together and make some tutorials !
One thing that is conspicuously absent is an "Undo" button. But if you click the grey "Dashboard" button at top right, you'll get a prompt telling you that if you leave, you'll lose your changes. So the lesson is, save and save often, that way you can drop back to the dashboard and respawn at your last Save point 😀
Thoughts So Far
I'm going to stop for tonight and get off to bed.
Although I've literally done no more than have a little wander around, I'm truly impressed by the amount of work which has gone into the project already. My brain is fizzing with all the ways we could both use it as Hivers and use it as a tool to bring new users into Hive.
Definitely one of the most exciting projects I've seen for ages, and it's still in it's early stages !