INTRODUCTION
I have been on this ever growing platform for quite a while now. Blogging without applications or tools to support you is like farming on a 100 acre plot with only man power. It is laborious and costly. Today, i will like to introduce you to an amazing website that assembles all the tools. It is called STEEMTOOLS.COM
What is Steemtools.com?
Steemtools is a website made by @roelandp and maintained by @transisto which is dedicated to listing apps that are linked to the steem blockchain in activity. It is not an official website to assemble all these apps and as such steemit.inc is independent of steemtools. Nevertheless, steemtools is the only website with such a live update as to the listing of new apps being developed unto steemit.
Why Steemtools.com?
The steem blockchain can be likened to the sea. The sea has several rivers that empty into it. It is so huge that it is constantly being filled by these rivers. But the sea isnt limited to the river flowing in. Rain drops fall into the sea. Waste water enters the sea. You can pour water yourselve into the sea. The steem blockchain has several unlimited entry points just like the sea and keeping track of all the available entry can be tiring. There is therefore a need for data source to list all the entry points and accessory applications for the steem blockchain.
Getting Started On Steemtools.
There are a whole lot of apps being developed on the blockchain. Steemtools has a general listing page and six categorisation. They are author, Curation, Data, Community, Developer, Frontend, Services, and Wallet. 
The Picture above is a screenshot of Steemtools Highlighting the Categorisation.
AUTHOR
Applications that help one in making and writing articles are categorised in the the author category. Writing on steemit can be quite difficult without a knowledge of what markdown is and other tools to help. This category of applications highlights apps developed to assist in making posts easily. Currently, Below is a listing of some of the available tools in the author category.
- Steemimg.com
- Steemstyle.com
- Steemfilter.space and many more.
CURATION
The concept of curation took me a while to grasp after joining steemit. Curating is simply finding undervalued post and voting it up in order to get to its right value which could sometimes be the trending page. Curation comes with rewards and to make the best out of it, there are applications designed to make it easy for you.
Below is a a listing of some of the available tools in the curation category.
- Steemplus
- Steemitrandom
- Curator Pro Feed and many more
DATA
The data category sorts out applications used to explore statistical data such as author rewards made for the week, witness stats, power down estimation dollar value, articles with your name mentioned in and many more. It consist of very useful applications you cannot afford to miss out.Below is a a listing of some of the available tools in the data category.
- Steemnow.com
- Steem-buddy.com
- Steemb.com
COMMUNITY
Steemit is all about communities. @tojukaka will say "tribes are being currently formed on steemit". Communities has members and it should be easy to identify these members. The community category, contains applications that enables steemians to bond and create tighter connections through communication. Below is a a listing of some of the available tools in the community category:
- Steem On Telegram
- Steemit.chat
- Steem.center
- Mapala.net
DEVELOPER
This is for the tech guys on steemit who want to build and help maintain the blockchain. The steem blockchain is an open source application and as such others can add their contributions and build applications freely on the blockchain. The developer category consist of a list of applications that provides data and materials needed to get started in developing your app. Below is a a listing of some of the available tools in the community category:
- Utopian.io
- PHP Client
- Steemdata.com
- Piston.web
FRONTEND
Front-end web development is the practice of producing HTML, CSS and usually JavaScript for a website or Web Application so that a user can see and interact with them directly.
From wikipedia.
In simple words, there is a raw data on the steem blockchain and the frontends are the graphical presentaion of the raw data so that it can be easily understood and used by the everyday user. There are several frontends built on the steem blockchain with the main frontend being steemit.com. Below is a list of some of the frontends on the steem blockchain:
- Dtube.video
- Dmania.lol
- Busy.org and many more
SERVICES
In a huge ecosystem like the steem blockchain, there are applications that provide services such as auto voting, trails, bots and many more. This category list some of the available services on the steem blockchain. Below is a list of some of the services in the service category:
- Radiosteem.com
- Steemarket.com
- Steemdice.net
- Steemauto.com
WALLET
Every cryptocurrency has wallets where the coins are kept. On steem, wallets are very few and below is a list of some of the available wallets for the blockchain.
NB: Steem tools is a weapon that can make you very productive on steemit and also very unproductive as well if not utilised well. It is my advise that you read latest articles about every tool you intend to use before using it in order to make sure it is safe to use. Protect your self by reading and you will forever be successful. Watch out for my detail analysis on each of the tools as i dissect them in my coming write ups.