5 lessons we’ve learned from your feedback on the CGS Tesnet
Recently we asked the users of the CGS testnet about their experience with our platform. We wanted to know whether they thought it was easy to use or not, what they liked about it and most of all: what they would change in order to improve CGS.
We’d like to thank everybody that participated in the survey and gave their honest opinion, we’ve listened carefully to your feedback! If you haven’t given your feedback yet but would like to, please take the survey here. Your opinion is appreciated!
5 lessons we’ve learned from your feedback (& the improvements we’re working on!)
1. Being familiar with Metamask makes it easier to use CGS
One of the things we wanted to find out is how easy or how difficult the Testnet is to use. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 means very difficult and 10 very easy, on an average users rated their experience as a 7,1. Pretty good!
Based on the outcome of the survey, we noticed that most of the users made use of the tutorial. However, several users indicated they couldn’t find the tutorial or they prefered to have a video tutorial. We will integrate the tutorial within the next version of the testnet and we’re preparing a video tutorial at the moment to include as well.
We’ve observed that most of the users had already used Metamask before. Those who weren’t familiar with Metamask found it slightly harder to use the testnet than those who used Metamask previously. Therefore, we’re preparing an informative article and tutorial on how to use Metamask.
2. “Reveal? Settlement? Claim deposit?”: Terminology isn’t clear enough
We have realized that the terminology used on the Testnet isn’t always as easy to understand for new users. We saw that quite some users didn’t understand at first what the different stages of the projects mean (such as “reveal” or “settlement”) or terms that may have been confusing when used together (“claim deposit” vs “deposited”).
At the moment, we’re analyzing what the best terms to use are, and once we’ve updated our terminology, we will also prepare a glossary that explains all concepts.
Next to that, we’re adding more visual elements to the testnet that will also help understanding better the different stages and terms used.
3. UX needs to improve to distinguish roles
We’ve noticed that users find it hard to distinguish between the roles of “ICO token holder” and “CGS Arbiter”.
As an “ICO token holder”, you can:
- Open a claim if you are not happy by how the project is managing the raised funds
- Redeem your ICO Tokens and receive back the remaining ETH in the Coin Governance System, if the claim is approved by the CGS Arbiters
- Cashout the ICO tokens that you’ve deposited to open a claim
As a “CGS Arbiter”, you can:
- Vote on open claims: you’ll be asked if you think the project is doing a proper use of the funds or not
- Reveal your vote once the voting process is over, by introducing your secret passphrase
- Withdraw the CGS tokens you used to vote. If you voted as the majority, you’ll have earned part of the CGS tokens from the minority
We are aware of the fact that we need to improve the UX to make it easier for users to distinguish both roles. Therefore, an UX specialist is analyzing our Testnet and based upon her conclusions we will implement improvements. We’ll keep you posted!
4. “Oops… I forgot to reveal my vote”: Notifications are needed
Several users indicated that they would like to receive notifications of the different stages and pending actions they may have. For example, users indicated that they would like to get notified when they have to reveal their vote, or when they can redeem tokens.
To solve this issue, in our next update we will include the possibility to add to your personal calendar a reminder of when to reveal your vote.
Next to this, the next version will also include a personal dashboard. Some of the features this dashboard will have:
- Log of actions performed on the CGS
- Pending actions (such as reveal your vote or withdraw tokens used to vote)
- A portfolio of projects you’ve participated in
5. Speed & Double Transactions
Although most of you were very positive about the speed of the Testnet, we’ve noticed that some users had comments regarding the speed and amount of transactions. Most of their points have to do with the blockchain itself, and therefore don’t depend on us.
For example, some users complained about the fact that they have to do two transactions to carry out one action on the Testnet, such as voting or depositing tokens. However, as some of you may have already experienced with other dapps such as Etherdelta/Forkdelta, this is a common practice when you have to perform an action that involves the payment or deposit of tokens.
In the ERC20 standard that almost all tokens follow, there is not a function that allows you to execute another function when sending tokens. That’s why the common practice is to use two transactions: one to authorize the use of the tokens to the receiver smart contract (function “Approve” in the ERC20 standard), and a second one to the receiver smart contract indicating the action to perform. Then the smart contract will execute the function “TransferFrom” in the ERC20 token.
To improve this, we’re exploring new token standards for the CGS. Although the only accepted token standard at the moment is the ERC20, we are following closely the progress of other proposals that look to improve it, such as the ERC777.
As our platform does not only interact with tokens under our control, it means that we will have to add support for both types of tokens. And those tokens with an “old” ERC20 standard will be treated in the old way. The use of the ERC820 by the ERC777 will help us to distinguish them.
Regarding the speed of some actions: this depends on the blockchain itself. In fact, we decided to use the Kovan testnet because of its speed (6s of avg. block time). Once we launch to Mainnet, the blockchain will be much slower (14s of avg. block time)!
We’ve noticed some users had trouble with the Gas Limit while trying out the testnet. While Metamask usually automatically calculates the right Gas Limit, it seems that those users using the beta version of Metamask were having some problems. We are looking into it to see how we can improve it from our side.
In general, the feedback on the Testnet has been very positive and we’re working with excitement on the improvements based on the experience users had. We plan to launch a new version of the CGS testnet including the above mentioned improvements in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
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Official Channels:
Website: https://cgs.vote/
Telegram: https://t.me/coingovernancesystem
White paper: https://goo.gl/y9gQ2W
Light paper: https://goo.gl/Ex8me6
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CGS_vote
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coin-governance-system/
Medium: https://medium.com/coin-governance-system
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