You spoke, Twitter listened.
Twitter are refreshing their product in order to make it "lighter, faster and easier to use." They asked users to tell them what they love and what they didn't like in order to fix it and make it better.
There are five main changes which will be rolled out across the Twitter website, Twitter for iOS, Twitter for Android, TweetDeck and Twitter Lite over the coming days.
- A new side navigation menu and fewer tabs at the bottom of the app means that there will be less clutter while scrolling making it easier to browse. This means Profile, additional accounts, settings and privacy will be all kept in one place.
- Any links to articles and websites will now open in Safari’s viewer in the Twitter app so you can easily access accounts on websites you’re already signed into.
- Twitter have refined their typography making their style and wording more consistent and they have also added bolder headlines to make it easier to focus on what's happening. Additionally, rounded profile photos will be introduced making it clearer to see what's being said and who's saying it.
It doesn't finish there.
- Relatable icons will make it easier for users to engage with tweets. The social media site claimed that "people thought the reply icon, an arrow, meant delete or go back to a previous page." So, they have switched the reply icon to a speech bubble making it distinctive and meaning it won't get confused for a delete button or any other button for that matter.
- Tweets will also be updated instantly with replies, retweets and likes and will allow a user to see a conversation unfolding live and they have also added additional accessibility choices such as increased colour contrast and the option to always open supported links in Safari Reader view, but this will only be available for iOS.
These changes will not be the last of their kind for Twitter as they promise to continue to listen to feedback, with more design updates coming soon.
