Greetings!

This is a first update related to the wallet upgrade proposal.

The Steem Proposal System (SPS) was introduced in Hard Fork 21 as a strategic measure to distribute development responsibilities more evenly across the ecosystem. Its introduction followed a prior fork that had substantially reduced witness compensation and was a response to the resulting operational strain on witnesses. The SPS was implemented to allow Steem users to formally submit proposals for initiatives or development work they intend to execute in exchange for funding, thereby fostering broader community engagement in the blockchain’s evolution.

Voting on proposals follows a stake-weighted model similar to that used in witness voting. However, in contrast to the fixed voting limit in witness selection, users can vote for as many proposals as they choose. This open and inclusive system gives the community a direct voice in determining development priorities and the allocation of funding.

Initial funding for the Steem Proposal System (SPS) was provided by Steemit Inc., which converted 200,000 STEEM into SBD to bootstrap the system. While this was sufficient to initiate early operations, it was not sustainable as a long-term funding model. The idea of allocating a portion of the blockchain’s inflation to support proposals was proposed and discussed among witnesses during the planning phase. As a result, Steem witnesses played a key role in implementing the SPS through Hardfork 21, which introduced a mechanism that redirects 10 percent of the blockchain's inflation, taken from the overall rewards pool, to fund community proposals submitted through the SteemDAO.

To facilitate interaction with the system, Steemit Inc. introduced a basic interface at https://steemitwallet.com/proposals, which served as a minimum viable product. This page was intended to be a starting point that community developers could expand over time. Unfortunately, despite being introduced more than six years ago, the interface received little to no enhancement, limiting its functionality and usability for end users.

That is now beginning to change. We have recently undertaken a focused effort to modernize and revitalize this long-overlooked component of the Steem ecosystem. Our goal is to deliver essential improvements to the user experience, restore relevance to the proposal interface, and fully unlock its potential as a core tool for community-driven development on Steem.

Where to test the Changes?

Community members can test all related improvements at:

• https://wallet.symbionts.io/

List of changes

^{Development Progress Overview}

🟩 Green: Pre-existing implementations

🔵 Blue: Newly added implementations

🟥 Red: Planned or pending implementations

🟪 Purple: Community-suggested implementations

UI changes to the proposal page

Although this change was not part of the original roadmap, we made the decision to move forward with it to provide a significantly improved user experience. Based on community feedback, we determined that enabling users to create proposals without first improving the usability and design of the proposals page would be insufficient.

^{Original UI}

Users should now encounter a more streamlined and intuitive interface when navigating the proposals page. Significant effort was made to establish a consistent visual structure that facilitates faster recognition and clearer understanding of each proposal’s purpose and current status.

^{New UI}

Due to technical limitations, certain aspects of the page required custom solutions designed to deliver tangible benefits without introducing additional overhead for wallet operators. For example, there is currently no native mechanism to identify which proposals are actively being funded. One potential solution involved performing real-time calculations on each page load to determine funding status. However, this approach was considered suboptimal with respect to performance and scalability.

^{Phone Version}

Instead, we adopted a more deterministic approach by hard-coding the ID of the return proposal and programmatically flagging any proposal that receives greater support. While we typically prefer solutions that minimize ongoing developer intervention, the return proposal is intended to remain active for an extended duration, making this method both practical and low-maintenance. Going forward, ensuring accurate functionality will only require updating the return proposal ID when necessary.

Exploring an existing issue

^{Not started proposals}

Another issue we sought to address was previously raised by witness @justyy regarding non-started proposals, which currently display a support level of zero regardless of actual backing. At present, there is no direct method to retrieve the accurate support value. We explored several potential solutions, including techniques such as lazy loading and aggressive preloading on hover, to improve perceived performance. However, we ultimately chose not to implement either method due to technical constraints in retrieving the full list of voters, which could significantly impact page performance. Although these implementations might work in theory given the relatively low number of proposals and voters, it is more prudent to prioritize stability and predictability. It is essential to ensure that resolving minor issues does not introduce new or more severe problems. Solutions must be implemented with care to effectively address the original concern without compromising the user experience or the overall integrity of the system. Users who wish to view the actual support level and voter list for a non-started proposal can click on the "0" value, which will redirect them to a detailed table displaying both the total support and the corresponding list of voters.

The list of voters

As outlined above, users who wish to view the support level for proposals that have not yet commenced can click on the "0" value. This action will display detailed information, including the actual support for the proposal and a comprehensive list of all voters. Additional data is also presented, such as the Steem Power held by each voter, their proxied voting power, and the overall influence of each account. A search bar has also been added to help users quickly locate specific accounts, and the table now includes functionality to sort and rank entries as needed.

To enhance clarity and improve the user experience, we have introduced color-coded indicators. These visual elements were chosen for their ability to help users interpret key information at a glance, without needing to read through all the textual content. This design decision supports faster comprehension and contributes to a more intuitive interface.

Light green is used to indicate accounts that have designated another account as their voting proxy, and whose influence is being counted because their proxy has voted for the proposal. In contrast, light red identifies accounts that have also set a voting proxy, but whose influence is not being counted since their proxy has not voted for the proposal.

^{Phone Version}

Proposal removal

Users can now remove their own proposals with just two clicks. The "Remove" button is only visible when the currently logged-in account matches the creator of the proposal. However, during testing, an incident occurred where a proposal was accidentally removed due to an unintended click. This presents a significant risk, particularly for proposals that have already received substantial support, as regaining the same level of backing can be difficult or even impossible due to factors such as user engagement and overall visibility.

To address this issue, we have implemented an additional security mechanism to ensure that users are fully aware of their actions. This safeguard helps prevent accidental removals caused by muscle memory or confusion with similar interface elements. Users are now required to re-enter their proposal ID before they can proceed with the removal.

^{Phone Version}

Proposal creation

Creating a proposal is now a straightforward process. We have taken care to keep the process as simple and intuitive as possible. During testing, we observed that some users were unclear about the concept of permalinks, so we implemented a system that allows users to simply paste a link, after which several related fields are automatically populated.

^{Phone Version}

Localization

As of now, localization is not within the scope of our ongoing development efforts. Although we previously considered a community-driven initiative, it did not materialize due to numerous factors. However, we are confident that localization will be addressed once our current priorities are completed.

What is next?

An FAQ section has already been prepared to provide detailed information related to the SteemDAO. While it could have been included in the current release, we are presently awaiting feedback from several community members with varying levels of technical expertise. This step is intended to ensure that the content is both accurate and accessible to a broad range of users. The section will be included and made available in the next update.

As with any development effort that prioritizes a high level of refinement, trade-offs are inevitable. For a team committed to precision and polish, this often means that some critical features remain in the backlog while enhancements to existing components are being finalized. Although there are still a few validations and minor improvements we intend to implement, we have opted to categorize them as non-critical refinements. These will be bundled and addressed in a future development cycle.

At this stage, we are intentionally refraining from announcing specific features planned for the next update. This decision is driven by a desire to avoid overpromising or creating expectations around features that may ultimately require additional time and testing. Broadly speaking, our development priorities remain focused on features that are either time-sensitive, widely requested, or provide meaningful quality-of-life improvements for the average Steem user.

Can I still suggest ideas and features?

Users are encouraged to freely share their thoughts and ideas with us. As developers and product owners, we often drift away from what regular users truly need and may unintentionally introduce unnecessary complexity. If you have any suggestions, whether related to our current work or to future improvements, please do not hesitate to reach out. Your feedback is highly valuable and can significantly contribute to the quality and direction of our development efforts.

That being said, we have already approved a few smaller features that were requested by the community, and we are open to implementing more if we determine that they are necessary. While suggestions for new features and change requests are welcome, we cannot guarantee that all submissions will be added to the development roadmap.

^{// Human-written, AI-enhanced}

Thank you for your continued support,

The Symbionts Team,

Contact us,