Established7 Days with Tweetie 2
After a week with Tweetie 2 for iPhone, I can say unequivocally that it is easily the best Twitter client available – mobile and desktop. It has a level of fit and finish that few apps achieve.
There have been other reviews of the app that go into depth on the features and quality so I’m not going to do that here. Instead I am going to take on the one large information architecture flaw I see in Tweetie 2. Let’s dig in.
TWEETIE MODES
Tweetie has basically two reading modes. There is the standard tweets mode which provides button bar access to your timeline, replies/mentions, direct messages and search. I’ll call this ‘tweet-view’. This is likely where you will spend most of your time. With the possible exception of search (which I’ll touch on more later), these are all related ways of viewing your incoming messages. This grouping makes sense.
Tweet-View Button Bar
The second reading mode is for profile-specific data. This provides button bar access to your own user profile, recent tweets, mentions and favorites (this is also where you view any other user’s profile). Generally speaking, this is the outgoing content from any user. This I’ll call ‘profile-view’. This set of functionality is also grouped in a fairly sensible way.
Profile-View Button Bar
But there is a problem. And that is the bridge between tweet-view and profile-view.
TWEETIE’S BRIDGE TOO FAR
The button bar in tweet-view ends with a three dot ‘more’ button ( ••• ). Tapping this button takes you to the ‘bridge’ – this screen is technically within the tweet-view mode (no change to the button bar). The bridge screen allows access to four things: My Profile, Favorites, Go to User and, slightly separated, Drafts.
More Button Leads to Bridge Between Modes
Here’s where it gets weird. The first two items take you directly into elements within the profile-view mode. Go to User takes you through a search mechanism but eventually dumps you out at a user’s profile page within profile-view. Drafts is completely separate functionality.
While this is all a little awkward, it is not a big deal. What makes it feel truly confusing is coming back from the other direction.
More Button Within Profile-View
Let’s say you are looking at your user info. This means you are in profile-view. In profile-view there is no ‘more’ button in the button bar that would take you back to tweet-view. Instead, you tap the More button in the header which takes you back to the previous page – the bridge screen. But the functions available on the bridge push you in the direction of the profile-view. You have to notice that the button bar has switched to tweet-view and tap the appropriate item you want. It’s confusing and counter-intuitive.When I go back to the bridge, I always end up hitting the Accounts button in the upper left (thinking I need to go further back to see new tweets) which takes me a step too far out.
Is this a major problem? Probably not. But for an app with as much polish as Tweetie 2, it’s a sore thumb.
Basically the issue is wether the profile-view should be treated as sub-pages or if it is an entirely separate section of the app. Right now it is an uncomfortable hybrid. If it is subpages, it should not have a button bar. If it is a separate section, it should not use a ‘back’ button in the header. I think two modes are deserved but how should they coexist?
From an architectural perspective, tweet-view and user-view are flip sides to the same coin. Tweet-view focusses around incoming content while user-view focusses on outgoing content. Therefore, the More button should act as a toggle – it swaps you between modes (without an in-between bridge step). This toggle would take the place of the More button in tweet-view and would be an additional button in profile-view (bringing it to 5 buttons as well). The two modes should be stylistically distinguished from one-another in some obvious way. Personally I’d like to see a white button bar in profile-view.
Problem solved? Almost. This makes switching between tweet- and profile-views simple and efficient but what about the additional functionality that the bridge provided? The Bridge had four elements: My Profile, Favorites, Go to User and Drafts. My Profile and Favorites are now handled more effectively by taking you straight into profile view – but where should Go to User and Drafts live now?
Go to User is a type of search and it makes the most sense to move it there. I would put it right between Search and Nearby.
Search Page Should Absorb Go to User
Drafts is a larger issue. Putting it in More seems to be a bit of a kludge to begin with as that page was a catch-all for misfit functions. Drafts is intimately tied to the compose message functionality. And that is where it should belong.
COMPOSE PERFECTION
Tweetie 2 has achieved a level of refinement in the compose window that truly is a step above. I tend to use the horizontal orientation for message composition and nearly all the Twitter clients are forced to cram in so many options that there is little space left to actually, you know, write. Tweetie cracks this problem by combining character count with an ‘advanced functions’ button.
Tweetie's Clean Compose Screen
The advanced functions button allows access to 6 key features which are hidden “under” the keyboard:
Tweetie's Hidden Compose Functions
Without a doubt, these are vital functions for the average Twitter user. You may use some of these features every day and some not-so-much but I don’t think any could be considered useless and therefore removed. However, Shrink URLs is something that could (arguably should) be done automatically. This would free up one function tile which could be replaced with Drafts. Now Drafts would be located within message composition which makes more sense than putting in a random catch-all location.
YET…
There is one thing that still bothers me. Searching for users can only be done through the tweet-view mode. Above, I moved Go to User to live within the Search screen but even before that, Go to User was located under tweet-view’s more button. I think both view modes should have identical access to search. Unfortunately the profile-view mode has no room for for additional buttons in the bar and I don’t see any other locations to put it. I would love to hear ideas on this one.
In closing, I want to reiterate my appreciation for Tweetie 2. It is an excellent piece of software. I think it just needs the level of refinement you find in the compose message screen to be applied to the confused mode switching functionality. I know I’ll see the fit and finish become more refined as Tweetie develops.