Twitterrific 4 Initial Reactions
Having used the new version of Twitterrific for a few hours, I have a few immediate reactions that I’d like to point out. Overall, I’m very impressed with the new version. There are some weird choices IMO, the sidebar being one of them. The fact that Trends and Lists aren’t collapsable is odd.
However, the weirdest things are things that Iconfactory “intentionally” do, at least according to their twitter.
1. Sub Pixel Anti-Aliasing: This might sound nitpicky, but looking at this screenshot can show you just how bad text can look in the app: http://cl.ly/0W2m3w1x3D1T2N3P2d2t (Note: According to IF, this “will improve over time”).
2. Jagged scrolling: When scrolling up and down in the tweets window, it’s extremely jaggy when you’re scrolling slowly. This is totally disorienting to my eyes and looks nothing like any other app I’ve scrolled in: http://cl.ly/3H0u0A3O202K2b3K3v1W (Note: IF “…snap to pixels when we scroll. By design”. Another odd intentional decision. Why would you intentionally design a scroll that looks bad?)
3. No Retweet option in any contextual menus: Self explanatory…how was this not included?
4. No trackpad gestures. More and more apps are supporting gestures due to Apple’s migration to touch based control. Not having these sucks!
5. Inability to drag an image into the compose window: A minor oversight, but one I’ve seen included in every Twitter app I’ve used other than Twitterrific. It’s just convenience.
6. No conversation view for DMs! I know this is just IF’s preference, but it’s just inane that there’s no conversation view for DMs. I mean…seriously?
I understand the app just launched, and that obviously means things will change. However, this app has been in development for quite a long time, and has been in testers’ hands for an equally long amount of time. How did these simple usability and interaction elements not get flagged? And if they were, why weren’t they addressed?
I just find it crazy that simple simple stuff is what’s turning me off from this app so much. I’ve bought it, like I’ve bought every other Iconfactory app, but these things are just disappointing and odd choices. Let’s hope they change a bit.
