Desktop Twitter users were waiting for a redesign of the microblogging site. The social platform has been promising “a new Twitter” for desktop for the past several weeks. That notice was the first thing on your Twitter feed, so it was difficult not to see it. Twitter was working on account switching, dark mode and bookmarks for the desktop version. Well, it is finally happening since the rollout of the new Twitter for desktop is currently underway. What does it come with, though? Do users get the features that Twitter promised?
The New Tools
You get the bookmarks that Twitter promised, which means you can quickly store those important pages to revisit later. As with the mobile version, Twitter desktop has a dark mode. In fact, the desktop version of the site has two shades of dark Twitter. For good measure, the platform added several colour themes to give users several personalisation options. The platform borrows a few other things from its mobile version like the “Sparkle” button. This button allows a user to switch from the standard ranked timeline to the reverse-chronological feed. Users can now view feeds in the most efficient manner. The explorer tab is another import from mobile. This feature provides you with personalised trends, making it easy to keep up with what’s going on. It also gives users access to more live videos than before. An account switching option on the navigation bar allows you to manage multiple accounts with a lot of ease. You can switch from one to the other without having to log out then back in. Mobile already has this feature.
Improved Navigation
A lot of the work Twitter did on the redesign was to improve navigation on the desktop version of the platform. The biggest change is the navigation bar, which moved to the far left side of the site from the top. It includes elements such as bookmarks, lists and the explore tab. What’s different is that now, instead of going to your profile to find lists, you can access them directly from the navigation bar. The new arrangement saves you time and energy. Direct messages are looking different, as well. You can see your sent messages and conversations in the same window, which is another time-saver.
With the additional customisation elements and navigation features, the new Twitter for desktop is looking fresh and clean. However, most of it resembles the current mobile version, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
This new Twitter for desktop was in the testing stage for several months, so users can hope that it will deliver as promised. Note that Twitter is making the new experience mandatory, meaning that you can’t choose to ignore it. Once you get the new desktop version, you cannot switch back to the legacy layout.
The Twitter redesign for its desktop site offers several new features that make it fun to use. However, most of the changes in this version are about the layout. Moving around some features on the desktop version of the site has allowed Twitter to make navigation more convenient for users. The desktop Twitter rollout gives everything it said it would, but as you might expect, there is no edit button.
