Tweetie for Mac wasthe lone , neglected appin the Loren Brichter - make Twitter app triumvirate . Tweetie on the iPhone became Tweetie 2 , and then morphed into the official Twitter app . And it ’s splendid . Twitter on the iPad received some acute critique when it get , but it too has evolve into greatness .
And yet there sit the original reading of Tweetie for Mac , with its iPhone - inspire port and its lack of aboriginal retweets , age unfavorably in sparkle of legion younger Twitter client upstart .
That all changed on Thursday with the latest footprint in Tweetie for Mac ’s life story , which emerged from its cocoon as Twitter for Mac , usable for free via the Mac App Store .
When I launch Twitter for Mac for the first time , I knew instantly what the stifle - jerk complaints would be . It does n’t look quite like a Mac app . It looks more than a bit like an iOS app that ’s missing the iOS equipment itself .
Standing there by itself , it looks okay . But on a Mac desktop littered with other windows , there ’s by all odds something off about it :
There ’s no title saloon . The Close / Minimize / Resize circles are non - standard and homochromatic . you’re able to drag the window from anywhere on the black saloon , but not from the theoretic title barroom region .
Macworld ’s own Jason Snellmentioned on Twitterthat the app attend a bit like a Dashboard widget that flew the coop . He ’s not incorrect . Again , to me , that ’s what many iPhone apps look like . But for the side tabs , does n’t Twitter for Mac seem correct at dwelling house in this skeleton ?
So yes , Twitter for Mac looks a bit out of place . I ’d be more prosperous if a few missing options were in place : a more Mac - like windowpane ( with a title bar ) , an adjustable font size of it and colouring material ( the grizzly text is my least favorite part ) , and the option to display both real name and usernames at the same time . And I bid that — likeHibariandTwitterrific — Twitter would show everyone ’s replies to me in my timeline .
But even as - is , Twitter has become my newfangled preferent Mac Twitter client . ( I’mnot alone . ) It just does so much very , very well :
• Elegantly apply multiple story funding • Single - key shortcuts for vulgar actions ( pet with F , for illustration ) • Contextual response , favorite , and retweet links • Double - tapclick on a tweet for its full conversation ( though the app should better indicate those tweet that have conversations behind them ) • Right arrow on tweets for more contextual data about them .
That last bullet deserve some account of its own .
On a steady tweet , pressing the good - arrow key track to an in - app view of the user ’s profile , pore on their timeline , with tabs for their replies , their favorites , and their profile datum . On a tweet with an image link , it opens the image right within the app . On a answer , it again opens up that conversation horizon .
In fact , you may navigate Twitter with only the pointer keys , if you ’re so inclined . pointer up and down through tweet , pink properly on a conversation to expand it , solicit down to go through that conversation , tap right to go into a user ’s profile , and so on . Then result pointer your path back out again .
bind down the Option key when you hit the right arrow , and you get ( surprise ! ) options . On a tweet with an paradigm connectedness , Option - Right Arrow lets you take whether to see the photograph or the user ’s profile .
As you arrow through tweet , you ’ll note that the scrolling seems to appeal a small bit of gravity . ( The same is n’t genuine for mouse scrolling , though it should be . )
The more you use Twitter for Mac , the more apparent its flaw become , but the more obvious it becomes that this is where the Mac is break . ( I could have pen , “ For good or bad … ” , but I ’ve become convinced that , foresighted - term , it ’s for better , so I dropped the conditional . )
Remember that the next iteration of Mac OS — Lion — is about bringing some founding from iOS back to the Mac . Apps on the Mac should and will continue to finger Mac - like , but it makes good sense for them to become more iOS - like , too . My two - class - sure-enough is an expert iPad and iPhone user , and has been for six calendar month .
Modern touchscreen interfaces — on Io gimmick and their competitors — often lean to swear on drilldown mechanisms for navigation . There ’s a feeling of tap downdeeperinto an app — whether navigating mailboxes in Mail , or RSS feeds in NetNewsWire or Reeder . On iOS , and especially on the iPhone , such navigation is on the face of it necessary because of the circumscribed screen real acres .
Twitter for Mac has the advantage of your ( comparatively ) tremendous proctor , and yet it too employs a drilldown - style interface . That interface , couple on with smooth and pernicious animation , help oneself you keep rail of where you are in the app — precisely the fashion the app work on your iOS twist . It does n’t demand to do that , but I believe Twitter right concluded that the overture offers genial navigation benefit , in addition to space - saving ones .
Twitter for Mac is n’t perfect . I miss features from each Twitter customer I leave behind . But more than anything , the app feels like the hereafter . Not the 2030 future — the late 2011 futurity .
