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I absolutely love updates, but the new iPhone app feels like a big F U to power users. They're de-emphasizing direct messages by putting them a level down in th

I absolutely love updates, but the new iPhone app feels like a big F U to power users. They're de-emphasizing direct messages by putting them a level down in the "Me" tab and switching accounts if you have multiple is found in the same place. Also, not a fan of the wasted space on the sides of the tweet feed. However, the new web design looks great.

bmuon 15y ago
I wouldn't expect the "official" apps to be power user friendly. TweetDeck will remain the app for the PU.
- sabret00the 15y ago
  Have you seen what they've done to Tweetdeck? They've dumbed it down and made it incredibly difficult for PUs. I suspect we'll finally see an open source alternative pop up.
shinratdr 15y ago
De-emphasizing direct messages makes sense. Twitter is accepting its role as a mostly passive service. Having a conversation through DM requires both parties to be following each other, a frankly rare scenario when most people are following companies, organizations and celebrities or notables. You may not like it but if you make any real use of direct messages, I'm pretty sure you are an atypical user now. In most situations, people use Timeline mentions to achieve the same thing, but without the secrecy and limitations direct messages introduce. I don't have a problem with this at all, frankly. It leaves a big opening for 3rd party clients to fill the gap, while repositioning the Twitter for iPhone app as the best choice for the mainstream Twitter user (which it wasn't previously but is as of 4.0). It may not be in your best interests, but I think it's a smart move that's in the long term interests of the service. Twitter, from the beginning, has always been about learning from the community and observing how people use the service rather than telling them how to use the service. This is just one more lesson learned from actual users. The rest of the UI changes are quite painful, though. I support the previously discussed changes, but overall the 4.0 update is a regression in terms of the UI. EDIT - I write all that, then I see this in my timeline: "Twitter for iPhone pro-tip: swipe up on Me for DMs and swipe left on Me to switch accounts." I guess they found a compromise. Actually, that's pretty amazing. Nobody else has to think about DMs if they don't want to, but power users still get instant access. Great job, Twitter.
BSeward 15y ago
"Twitter for iPhone pro-tip: swipe up on Me for DMs and swipe left on Me to switch accounts." /via https://mobile.twitter.com/bhaggs/status/144846707925061632 https://mobile.twitter.com/bhaggs/status/144846707925061632 Not the most discoverable gesture, but it's there, though it's only a little weirder than "swipe across tweet for secondary actions" (though on that topic I'll miss using that to quickly save links to Instapaper).
flyosity 15y ago
The switch to a grouped tableview is one of the worst UI decisions I've seen Twitter make. Mobile screens are small so wasting horizontal space is a cardinal sin. Padding on either side of tweets might look good at first glance but it makes the whole interface feel cramped, and allows for fewer tweets to be shown per screen. That, coupled with the removal of text size options makes the information density much lower than it was before, which increases how many times I have to swipe to read tweets, which sucks.

bmuon 15y ago

I wouldn't expect the "official" apps to be power user friendly. TweetDeck will remain the app for the PU.

sabret00the 15y ago
Have you seen what they've done to Tweetdeck? They've dumbed it down and made it incredibly difficult for PUs. I suspect we'll finally see an open source alternative pop up.

shinratdr 15y ago

De-emphasizing direct messages makes sense. Twitter is accepting its role as a mostly passive service. Having a conversation through DM requires both parties to be following each other, a frankly rare scenario when most people are following companies, organizations and celebrities or notables. You may not like it but if you make any real use of direct messages, I'm pretty sure you are an atypical user now. In most situations, people use Timeline mentions to achieve the same thing, but without the secrecy and limitations direct messages introduce. I don't have a problem with this at all, frankly. It leaves a big opening for 3rd party clients to fill the gap, while repositioning the Twitter for iPhone app as the best choice for the mainstream Twitter user (which it wasn't previously but is as of 4.0). It may not be in your best interests, but I think it's a smart move that's in the long term interests of the service. Twitter, from the beginning, has always been about learning from the community and observing how people use the service rather than telling them how to use the service. This is just one more lesson learned from actual users. The rest of the UI changes are quite painful, though. I support the previously discussed changes, but overall the 4.0 update is a regression in terms of the UI. EDIT - I write all that, then I see this in my timeline: "Twitter for iPhone pro-tip: swipe up on Me for DMs and swipe left on Me to switch accounts." I guess they found a compromise. Actually, that's pretty amazing. Nobody else has to think about DMs if they don't want to, but power users still get instant access. Great job, Twitter.

BSeward 15y ago

"Twitter for iPhone pro-tip: swipe up on Me for DMs and swipe left on Me to switch accounts." /via https://mobile.twitter.com/bhaggs/status/144846707925061632 https://mobile.twitter.com/bhaggs/status/144846707925061632 Not the most discoverable gesture, but it's there, though it's only a little weirder than "swipe across tweet for secondary actions" (though on that topic I'll miss using that to quickly save links to Instapaper).

flyosity 15y ago

The switch to a grouped tableview is one of the worst UI decisions I've seen Twitter make. Mobile screens are small so wasting horizontal space is a cardinal sin. Padding on either side of tweets might look good at first glance but it makes the whole interface feel cramped, and allows for fewer tweets to be shown per screen. That, coupled with the removal of text size options makes the information density much lower than it was before, which increases how many times I have to swipe to read tweets, which sucks.