I know the STU vs. '$' was long debated. It would be easier for the user if rewards were displayed in USD, but these are not definitive rewards until the 7 days window passes and rshares (another term the regular user doesn't care about) are converted to "real" tokens (i.e. STEEM, SBD and SP).

I began my journey on Steem via steemit.com as well. Then moved to busy.org to finally land on Steempeak.com. So, it's a matter of getting used to a new interface, mostly. Regarding the interfaces, it's also a matter of preferences. I prefer SteemPeak because it's feature-rich, and I don't even use them as well as I could.

Your input as a new user of SteemPeak is valuable and I'll tag @steempeak so either Jarvie or Asgarth can take a look at it, when they have time.