Twitter unveils interface redesign

The popular microblogging site Twitter announced and launched a refresh of its interface on its company blog Thursday. Updated tabs, a new design customizer, and Ajax work on the back end are the major features of this release.

Twitter's redesign sports a more attractive following/followers display and better tab placement.

The most noticeable UI change is the move of the smaller tabs that were on top of the timeline to the right sidebar, where they can occupy more space, making them larger clicking targets. They also moved the following/followers/updates stats to the top of the page and made them larger, so now I can really see how deflated my follower numbers are.

The Twitter Blog also notes that moving the tabs to the side was necessary to make room for future tabs since space was limited in their previous location. While Twitter doesn't clue us in to what features might be housed in these new tabs, Summize (now Twitter Search) is a likely candidate for some sort of inclusion since Twitter's old search box disappeared in this update.

The most important change, in terms of functionality is the addition of AJAX to the "Home" and "@Replies" pages. Their new implementation allows you to refresh the items in your timeline without having to reload the whole page. This makes for faster load times and less bandwidth intensive reloading of pages.

Twitter's new design customizer.

Twitter also introduced a new design customizer with this release, which allows you to change the colors on your Twitter profile with the help of a color wheel. Instead of typing in color codes and hoping that you got all of the colors right, they are now reflected in real time as you change them on the page. This is an awesome implementation of this feature and makes it far easier to create a good looking profile.

Other than the new Ajax functionality, this update is purely aesthetic. Even though we have not seen any major features added Thursday, this redesign has paved the way for a larger future update, which Twitter promises is coming soon.

[jag0]

I dig it!

Now they just need to make the mobile site just as good.

[gagahput3ra]

The new layout ROCKS!!!

Follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/gagahput3ra

[CindyStanford]

"Twitter's old search box" didn't function like Summize/TwitterSearch. It was only for looking up users by name or location. Now instead of being immediately available, you must click on <Find People> at the top right, then click on <Search>.

AFAIK, Twitter has never had a generic search functionality until it acquired Summize, but even then a person had to know to go to http://search.twitter.com because there wasn't a link from the site itself.

[harrisonh1]

You're right Cindy. Twitter's old search box was for people search, I should have made that more clear. What I really wanted to say was that the lack of integration of Summize is ridiculous given that they have acquired them. The only exposure that they have given to Twitter Search is a small link at the bottom of the page. Given that, I suspect that they're working on the integration as we speak.

--
Harrison

[AndyFinkle]

I welcome any changes & additions to Twitter, and I am probably one of their biggest fans. Having said that, I still believe the Twexecutives in charge still don't get it. I blogged a while back how what they really need to do is not their back-end (ya, I know how important that is as well), nor is it about moving the tabs (their redesign is a nice addition to their UI).

There are still too many people who come to Twitter because of all their great buzz, and Twitter just wastes the opportunity. They more often then not come away with that "I don't get it" comment, and never come back. Twitter could in one day, and with little resources simply post some tutorials, and explanatory pages to educate newbies. This would be the biggest ROI they could ever invest in. Hell, I don't even work for them, and I have already blogged over a dozen ways that Tweeple, and businesses use Twitter differently.

www.twitter.com/A_F

[marianmerritt]

Hey Andy,
Why not create your own demo tutorials, post to YouTube and get some buzz of your own going!

Great suggestion by the way! Too many people can't fathom Twitter and I tell them to just get started and see what it feels like. That's so lame but what else can you do?

MarianMerritt

[JimMcDosh]

Yeah baby, goooo Twitter! LOL
www.anonymize.us.tc

[joemccann]

User Interface Developers take note. Simplicity is where it's at.

www.twitter.com/joemccann

[tuvinh]

Yeah, that is good for the users. But I think they should make it to "rock" more.
www.tuvinh.com

[perfectflights]

Yeh u r right