When I first joined Twitter, I stuck to updating from the website. Then I found out about clients you can run from your desktop so you can catch new tweets without having to constantly open the site, the client window is always open. I started with TweetDeck, then they made some changes I didn’t like (this might’ve been the time Twitter purchased the company, I honestly don’t remember) and I learned about Seesmic which had more features I liked, so I switched to that. The best feature in my opinion has been the ability to preview images directly in the tweet so I don’t have to click the image link if I don’t want to. I’ve tried a few other clients but never stuck with them for very long, I’ve mainly used TweetDeck and Seesmic. I don’t own a smartphone so everything’s had to be compatible with Windows, and unfortunately there’s really not a lot to choose from.
Lately I’ve been rather unhappy with Seesmic, it seems Windows users keep getting the shaft when something goes wrong and it stays broken for a while since I guess the iPhone/Android versions get primary attention. The most recent problem has been something kinda lame but it was still a huge convenience to have when it was working properly. When you click a person’s Twitter name in Seesmic, a new tab opens in the client that shows you the person’s profile. Or at least, that’s what’s supposed to happen. For at least a week now, when I click on an account whose profile I want to view, all I get is a blank tab with a nonstop “Hold on while I load this page” graphic. I have no idea what those things are actually called, but here’s a screenshot to show what I mean:
I’ve tried letting it sit, and that spinning ball just never stops. I don’t know what broke, but it seems Seesmic doesn’t care. I can just go to the Twitter homepage and look at the person’s profile from there, but I shouldn’t have to. It’s such a dumb thing to be irritated about, but it’s still irritating.
I figured I might as well see if there’s any other client I want to use, so I Googled “Twitter for Windows” and the first thing that popped up was this article by LifeHacker. The article is mainly about MetroTwit, and also mentions Seesmic and TweetDeck. From what I can tell, those are the best options for Windows unless I want absolutely no features.
Since I hadn’t yet tried MetroTwit, I installed it to check it out. One thing that intrigued me was the apparent ability to hide tweets with certain usernames, keywords, or hashtags. Hilariously enough, I didn’t even tweet from it before deciding I hate it, I didn’t even bother testing if I could really filter tweets. One big problem is I can’t customize the layout or background color. The only options are white-on-black or black-on-white, though you can customize the accent color by choosing from a dropdown. And the font is huge with no way of making it smaller. Another issue is although the columns can be resized, they won’t stay that way. I guess you can only momentarily resize them, then it snaps back to how it was so every column fits on the screen. I couldn’t get past the cosmetic issues I can’t change, so MetroTwit isn’t for me.
Then I tried re-installing TweetDeck because I couldn’t remember why exactly I stopped liking it — and I’ve done this once before which is why I’m writing this entry to begin with — and as soon as I installed it I remembered at least part of the reason. When Twitter bought the company, they completely reworked the client and made it so plain and boring that it’s almost painful to use. Again, there’s no customization, the color scheme is different shades of grey. Period. The LifeHacker article mentions you can install the older version of TweetDeck and gives a link, but I decided to see if I could find any blogs talking about the differences and I ended up finding this one which perfectly describes my issues with the new TweetDeck. That entry also offers a link to install the old version of TweetDeck, so I clicked on that to take a look and see if I’d like the old version at all.
I’d forgotten I’d set my color scheme to look like something a unicorn puked up, it’s shades of purple and pink. Very hilarious. Unfortunately, and I really can’t put my finger on why, I just don’t like TweetDeck. And honestly, the notification noise irritates me, old AND new version.
So as much as I’d like to be able to view people’s profiles in the client, it’s obvious I’m going to have to deal with that bug in Seesmic because it’s the best client for my needs. Everything else is either too plain, offers too many features I don’t need that can’t be turned off, or the friggin’ notification noise bugs me. Or a combination of those issues. This is like Goldilocks and her stupid porridge, but I still can’t find my perfect bowl of porridge so I’m just learning to deal with what’s available.
Eventually I’ll figure out how to create my own client and add everything I want, and I’ll be thrilled.
The color I’d uploaded was the one on the left of this image, and the cards showed up in the color on the right! Personally I much prefer the color they are as opposed to what they would’ve been if it was exact, but keep this in mind if you order cards with a solid background, certain colors might end up being different. That’s a bit of a problem for some, I’m sure, but as I said, this ended up in my favor. I’m glad they’re an actual purple and not closer to royal blue.
