Great job on the aesthetic. It would be cool to see some market visualizations for assets with active markets!

    Hey! This really looks great. Most eye-pleasing Network explorer I came across so far. Keep up the good work. Love your artistic instincts.

    One thing I noticed is that the font changes from browser default (Times New Roman?) to "Inter" during page load. It displays the serif font for like a second, and then, once the CSS is applied it switches to Inter. I'm probably a bit pedantic here but it looks a bit glitchy to my eye. You can probably solve that by setting Inter as global font in the <head> tag and then it will be used instantly while the page renders and before all the JS callbacks are applied.

      kolten
      Thanks for your encouragement. , we agree that the assets section needs more work so that users can easily find valuable assets. We think asset rates must be assigned based on only the trade volume. Rating based on the number of payments and the number of trades is wrong because issuers can easily generate spam transactions, For example, it's incorrect for DRA to appear on the top of the list on stellar.expert.
      As we mentioned in the proposal, in phase 2, we'll implement the assets and favorite accounts sections using our own API.

        marcinx
        Thank a lot. Your kind words motivate us to keep going. We wish you all the best.
        We will fix the issue you pointed out about the font.

            I think this is really cool. Design was clean and new features were creative and helpful. Would there be an option to create an account with login? (I saw that you can save and customize addresses) Also if you can it would be neat down the road to be able to customize what appears on your home screen as different users might value individual data differently; having it on the home page would be a convenience for quick reference. Good job

              samuelconner
              Thanks for your encouragement, about saving accounts for the privacy of all your information is stored locally in the browser and in the future, you can easily retrieve all your data with a JSON file by clicking the import and export button on the watchlist page. We have to talk to our team about how to customize the home page, I haven't seen the feature in similar apps, and need more discussion.

                7 days later

                overcat
                Done ✅
                The Stellar federation protocol is now supported in Lumenscan, you can search your federation address in Lumenscan and see it in the account detail page.

                  6 days later

                  Lumenscan

                  I wish your article had more substance. Right now there's basically none.

                  none of these explorers have performed well and nor have they been able to meet the basic user needs

                  What basic user needs are not being met?

                  eliminates the shortcomings of previous explorers

                  What are those shortcomings, and what are you doing differently?

                  TFA has zero information. It just says that "something" was wrong before, but now you've fixed "it", without saying what that something was.

                  Fluff.

                      6 days later

                      You know, we got used to various bots, scrapers, and DDoS attempts that abuse our API. But you guys took it to the next level using our data without permission to promote your explorer and criticizing StellarExpert UX & functionality on top of it.

                      First, about the API. The endpoints you are using (specifically ledger/ledger-stats, asset-stats/overall, asset/, asset/{asset-id}) are not public. It means that they are not standardized and not intended for usage in third-party applications. The API contracts, endpoint URL addresses, and the data itself for private endpoints are subject to change without further notice. Moreover, our firewall proactively finds and blocks bots and other suspicious activity based on the access pattern. Once your proxy server reaches a certain threshold, your IP address will be blacklisted and blocked. So please remove all references to our private API endpoints to avoid service disruption.

                      The reason behind this is that most of the private endpoints extensively use resources on our servers, slowing down operations for other users. Until we find a way to optimize resource consumption, those endpoints will remain non-public. Here is the list of the public CORS-enabled StellarExpert APIs that can be used by third-party services free of charge with the guaranteed data contracts and API format.

                      Regarding two Medium posts that highlight the "shortcomings" of StellarExpert and SteExp.

                      If you look at the other explorers, you can see that they don't let you view full details of each operation.

                      Actually, you can view the operation details on both SteExp and StellarExpert – it just always shown in the context of the parent transaction.

                      And you surely can use a search to find the operation. Sorry but it's hard to believe that you decided to illustrate your post with a screenshot of the search results page instead of the operation details page, which was one click away from that interface.

                      Showing operations without a parent transaction context does not provide complete information to users. For instance, people often want to see a transaction memo and have a direct reference to the enclosing ledger. Also, the concept of Stellar transaction-operation relations is quite hard to understand for regular users and developers with a background in other blockchains. That's the reason why we don't show the operation properties separately from the transaction. Initially, we also built it as a separate page, but decided to remove it in favor of transaction-based extended interface.

                      Each field also features a description that displays when you hover your mouse over the question mark icon. These descriptions are perfect if you're just learning about the network.

                      This is also positioned as a super cool and unique feature. But we have similar hints on StellarExpert for like three years now. And Etherscan added them a long time ago. So what is the novelty?

                      Speaking of, I spotted a striking resemblance between your interface and Etherscan.

                      You might want to check the hints, as some of them contain texts clearly not related to Stellar. There is no such thing as "mining" on Stellar.

                      ...other explorers don't give you a list view of the operations in a ledger

                      That's simply not true – all transactions and operations can be found directly on the ledger info page (example).

                      We just need a modern, capable and up-to-date explorer to show all of these amazing features, designed based on understanding user needs and expectations. Today, the lack of a suitable tool has created a deep gap between users and the Stellar network, and users cannot make good use of the Stellar Network's capacities.

                      I'm not going to comment on the design, as this topic is highly subjective. I really like the color palette of StellarScan dark theme. But all these numerous Etherscan.io clones (https://tronscan.org/ and https://tezos.id/ and many others) blindly copy the basic Bootsrap-based theme and layouts without paying any attention to the way the data is presented in some particular context. Early versions of StellarExpert were also built on Bootstrap, much resembling your current design except the color palette. But it evolved as I gathered requirements, and this simplistic design is a result of multiple changes inspired by community feedback.

                      Medium articles and this announcement topic put a massive emphasis on the "attractive user interface" and design concept. But is StellarExpert is so bad that we have a "deep gap between users and the Stellar network"? Or maybe your clone of the Etherscan interface will automatically allow people to embrace Stellar?

                      It's really strange to see that 4 of 5 "magic features" of such a complex and comprehensive tool as a ledger explorer are focused on aesthetics (theme, responsive design, layout). And the only technical aspect (the "watchlist") is simply a bookmark manager.

                      As @dzham pointed, there are no specifics about what you plan to implement in the future. If you want to create just one more thin wrapper on top of Horizon APIs – well, you are on the right way, you have about 50% ready. But if you want to build a system that provides extended ledger data and analytics as StellarExpert does it, you have a long road ahead. And you should really start with digging into Stellar internals to figure out which data you can extract, how to aggregate it, and what features you can add to your roadmap. Judging from the lonely chart on LumenScan that shows a generic demo data instead of real statistics, you haven't made progress there yet. I'd say that if you have the right people in the team and a cluster of servers, in a year you'll be able to finish your own ledger processing framework, API, and aggregated data.

                      As a closing note, I have strangely mixed feelings regarding your project. On the one hand, you are trying to build a direct competitor service to StellarExpert while using our APIs without permission and trying to illustrate your "advantages" by demonstrating irrelevant cases directed on StellarExpert and boasting features that have been implemented in other explorers years ago.
                      On the other hand, you clearly invested some effort into this. Community benefits from healthy competition, and I will be happy to see new players in this field. For example, we added a dark theme to StellarExpert last week following the feedback provided for your project. We are heavily invested in the in-depth ledger analysis, so it's easy to forget about such simple things that make the life of our users more comfortable.

                      In any case, good luck with this endeavor.
                      P.S. Please remove all usages of our private APIs asap.

                        OrbitLens

                        First, about the API. The endpoints you are using (specifically ledger/ledger-stats, asset-stats/overall, asset/, asset/{asset-id}) .

                        We have mentioned several times in our papers and proposal that we use stellar.expert API for the tokens section. You can see it there. I don’t understand your reaction.

                        Showing operations without a parent transaction context does not provide complete information to users. For instance, people often want to see a transaction memo and have a direct reference to the enclosing ledger. Also, the concept of Stellar transaction-operation relations is quite hard to understand for regular users and developers with a background in other blockchains. That's the reason why we don't show the operation properties separately from the transaction. Initially, we also built it as a separate page, but decided to remove it in favor of transaction-based extended interface.

                        We believe showing operation details helps users understand the operations better. You can’t display all the details of an operation in the Operation Info. We also show to which operation the details belong. We think the easiest thing to do is to ask the users whether they prefer seeing operation details.

                        This is also positioned as a super cool and unique feature. But we have similar hints on StellarExpert for like three years now. And Etherscan added them a long time ago. So what is the novelty?

                        I was referring to the operation detail hints, which was first developed by the Lumenscan team.

                        Speaking of, I spotted a striking resemblance between your interface and Etherscan.

                        A transaction has a universal definition. We can’t just change the definition as we please.

                        You might want to check the hints, as some of them contain texts clearly not related to Stellar. There is no such thing as "mining" on Stellar.

                        I don’t believe we ever use the word “mining” in our project. Please point to an instance where it’s used, and we’ll fix it immediately.

                        That's simply not true – all transactions and operations can be found directly on the ledger info page

                        I meant listing them separately by transaction and ledger in separate pages.

                        I'm not going to comment on the design, as this topic is highly subjective. I really like the color palette of StellarScan dark theme. But all these numerous Etherscan.io clones (https://tronscan.org/ and https://tezos.id/ and many others) blindly copy the basic Bootsrap-based theme and layouts without paying any attention to the way the data is presented in some particular context. Early versions of StellarExpert were also built on Bootstrap, much resembling your current design except the color palette. But it evolved as I gathered requirements, and this simplistic design is a result of multiple changes inspired by community feedback.

                        I really don’t understand your point. You can talk to any UI/UX designer in the world and they’ll tell you that a standard component, such as a login form, is made up of a few basic elements. You can’t change those elements or put the input forms in different locations on the page, and call it innovation. Our approach is what millions of people like to use around the world. It’s not a clone. You’re accusing us because you don’t have enough design knowledge.

                        As @dzham pointed, there are no specifics about what you plan to implement in the future. If you want to create just one more thin wrapper on top of Horizon APIs – well, you are on the right way, you have about 50% ready. But if you want to build a system that provides extended ledger data and analytics as StellarExpert does it, you have a long road ahead. And you should really start with digging into Stellar internals to figure out which data you can extract, how to aggregate it, and what features you can add to your roadmap. Judging from the lonely chart on LumenScan that shows a generic demo data instead of real statistics, you haven't made progress there yet. I'd say that if you have the right people in the team and a cluster of servers, in a year you'll be able to finish your own ledger processing framework, API, and aggregated data.

                        Regarding @dzham’s comment, the most important characteristic of LumenScan is to create small creative improvements that amount to larger enhancements in the user experience. We can’t explain every single detail. The users will understand the improvements themselves. For example, the payments of an account,which provide a better understanding compared to a path payment.

                        Regarding your comment, we completely agree. We have decided to act as a node in the network and use the data to display more data to the users. We’ve only been working on Lumenscan for two months. This is only an MVP, and we’ve received great feedback. As you said, you’ve been working on your explorer for several years, and I think it’s not fair to compare the two projects. We have great plans for the future.

                        As a closing note, I have strangely mixed feelings regarding your project. On the one hand, you are trying to build a direct competitor service to StellarExpert while using our APIs without permission and trying to illustrate your "advantages" by demonstrating irrelevant cases directed on StellarExpert and boasting features that have been implemented in other explorers years ago.

                        I’d like to emphasize that we’ve mentioned the use of your Token API several times. I apologize for using the API without authorization. We thought that it was a free API like Horizon. Furthermore, we’ve talked about our own user interface. I think the users will understand the differences, and there is no need to discuss this matter anymore.

                        On the other hand, you clearly invested some effort into this. Community benefits from healthy competition, and I will be happy to see new players in this field. For example, we added a dark theme to StellarExpert last week following the feedback provided for your project. We are heavily invested in the in-depth ledger analysis, so it's easy to forget about such simple things that make the life of our users more comfortable

                        Thanks for understanding. I really hope that you’re happy about us entering the competition, but your reactions don’t reflect that.

                        For example, we added a dark theme to StellarExpert last week following the feedback provided for your project

                        We’re glad that Lumenscan was able to inspire you. Unlike you, we don’t label your actions as cloning our work. Etherscan, Lumenscan, and many other applications in the world have the dark mode theme. That’s why we don’t believe your dark mode is a copy feature. It’s a global standard.

                        P.S. Please remove all usages of our private APIs asap.

                        Sure. Please give us some time until we’re able to run our own node on Stellar and customize our database structure.

                        Finally
                        We’re glad that Lumenscan usage is growing every day, and we’re motivated to work harder. Over the past two months, we’ve done our best to create better experiences for Stellar users. We do not want to sabotage our competitors. Our goal is to grow together as a community.

                        Best,
                        -Lumenscan Team

                          Guys, I can't believe that you are so blatantly impudent. So you are going to abuse our non-public APIs despite my clear emphasis that we don't give you such permission. Moreover, we should meekly wait a year until you roll out your own aggregation system while posting evident lie about the far-fetched "shortcomings" in our interface and boasting features that have been there for years.

                          Deny obvious facts, lie about other services, ignore screenshots, and defy common sense – nope, this is not going to work. You are just a bunch of dirty copycats. That's unfair competition at its finest.

                            OrbitLens
                            Keep calm, we understand your anger because you have found a strong competitor,
                            You have no right to insult and slander our team.
                            We leave the judgment to the community and you are no longer eligible for discussion.
                            Regards

                                Lumenscan Just for a laugh 🤣

                                BTW, I temporary turned on logs on the server to check where your traffic is coming from. So you guys from Iran? How is the whether in Tehran?

                                    Hi everyone!
                                    Due to some recent developments, we have decided to change our APIs. When we started, we used Horizon for almost 70 percent of our API and stellar.expert for the remaining 30 percent, and now we are 100 percent on the Horizon.

                                    note:
                                    • Total accounts count and total assets count in the home screen are static values
                                    • The assets are sorted based on the newest (this is due to a limitation, which will be fixed in the future and we’ll then sort the assets based on volume).
                                    Our project is in its first stage and working as an MVP. In the second stage, we’ll run our own server and a node on the Stellar network. in the future, you’ll see more information and deeper analyses for your tokens, and we’ll improve your user experience.
                                    We’ve only been working on this project for two months, and we have a long way ahead of us. We hope that, with your help, we can continue on this road.
                                    Sincerely,
                                    Lumenscan Team