A Critique of the Twitter Redesign
Posted by joe, Fri Oct 05 09:14:00 UTC 2007
Boulder, Colorado-based web designer Andrew Hyde has a really thoughtful and specific list of criticisms for the new look on Twitter.com:
- Color: The original color scheme ... work[s] really well, and the new colors really are not needed.
- Unneeded/ Off Whitespace: Twitter is a simple web app, why isn’t the design simple?
- Nav is Sloppy: Is this really the nav you need?
- Countdown Clock: Distracting movement on the screen for every character I type
- Update Box: Is it a box?
I have a lot of respect for designers and UI guys, and this is exactly why: they see some things that I don't (e.g. problems with the color palate), and can articulate other things that I cannot (e.g. the countdown timer just seemed "weird"). Kudos, Andrew!
The thing that I find worse is the fact that nothing is now in alphabetical order. I do not understand why this is so. My followers used to appear always in alphabetical order, now there is no order whatsoever!! Why have they done this? It really makes no sense to me.
If more than 50, I could see that being downright painful. They don't appear to be in chronological order either.