What’s wrong with Tweetdeck
I design lots of user interfaces for varying different types of products on different platforms. So I find it very annoying when I encounter a product which is functionally brilliant but lacks an easy to use interface. I find the user interface for the popular twitter client Tweetdeck is lacking the necessary interface for it to become a brilliant application.
Loading Tweetdeck
When Tweetdeck initially loads up there are no loading symbols in any of the columns, this is also true when you create a new column or a new search. Ideally Tweetdeck would show a loading spinner to give you the idea that the program is actually doing something.
The Tweets
Each tweet is of a uniformed height which really doesn’t make use of the space available. This becomes even more apparent when you switch on the option of narrow columns. Why can’t the columns be resizable? This would allow you to have as many as you want within the viewport of your screen. One of the biggest flaws in Tweetdeck are in the tweets, links do not have a rollover! There is also no way of knowing if you have actually clicked on the link and it’s opening a webpage.
Notifications
The Tweetdeck notification system is not only annoying, it is also useless, they are trying the mimic the GROWL notification system for Mac, but without any of the benefits. The notifications contain no real information, like who tweeted what, it only contains a count. There is also no way for you to choose the location of the notification, by default it pops up in the top right of the screen. The major place, especially on windows, where important buttons are positioned. There is also no setting to adjust the time the notification would display for.
Summary
Don’t get me wrong, I love Tweetdeck, I use it everyday but i would just like to see a number of improvements so that I am able to use it everyday all day, without continually looking for a new solution for the Twitter client problem.
Do you have any problems with Tweetdeck, any little problems which you think would make a big difference? Or have you found a great replacement for Tweetdeck? Let me know in the comments below.
Great article. I particularly agree about the notifications, I don’t see why it can’t integrate into the OS and use its notification system.
My main gripe about most utility applications is the memory usage. 122Mb RAM, wow…now I remember when…
@Matt i totally agree, the memory usage on tweetdeck is horrible, it’s worst than firefox.
I agree with all of the previous comments! TweetDeck is by far my favourite application for interfacing with Twitter, but it has so many flaws!
I too was amazed to discover its memory usage; I don’t care if it is the Air framework, 100+MB is too much for what is essentially a background service.
I’ve got two monitors on my system (1×24″, 1×22″) and TweetDeck still refuses to utilise the space properly either leaving me with too much spare, or just not enough that I have to scroll left and right.
I think it’s a great starting point, really great, but it needs a strong feedback system to improve it further otherwise someone’s going to make something that is better.
Hi there,
All good valid points in this article. Did you know there is a Uservoice site for Tweetdeck where you can raise issues like these and vote to get them implemented. http://tweetdeck.uservoice.com if you’re interested.
Thanks!
Richard
C’mon, TweetDeck has been developed by one man – pretty outstanding job given the circumstances. 250k downloads. Not that it can’t be improved, great hints there. Reportedly TweetDeck has now secured $300k funding so I’m expecting some improvements will be coming shortly.
I agree, I love TweetDeck and use it everyday. Everything you mentioned above drives me NUTS! Especially the fact that the columns are not resizable.
And one more thing. On one of my machines TweetDeck is the only app that does not recognize my mouse scroll wheel. How frustrating!
@Dugrhill
Thanks, this has been a great learning experience for me as a developer of a tweetdeck killer (Twitulater). In fact, most of your reservations are already implemented
Great idea with the resizable columns.
Another thing that drives me nuts is that fact that when you try and @ reply someone the auto suggest (which is great) only appends the user name to the end of the tweet and not at the cursor position.
@swizec your twitter client sounds good, you should post a link to it.
Heh yes, it’s http://twitulater.com
Give it a try and see if it suits your needs, but it’s been in development for much less time than TweetDeck has and there’s still a lot to do.
Spot on about the notifications. I’ve just connverted to TweetDeck from Twhirl. It’s excellent, but the notification system is crap!
I have to open TweetDeck every time to see what’s been tweeted, where as in Twhirl I can have a glance at the notification for info of who tweeted and what.