Thoughts on Tweetie for Mac
The release of Tweetie for Mac has surely brought a tidal wave of praise down upon its developer. Tweetie is fast, beautiful and very keyboard friendly. It feels like a Mac app. With Monday’s 1.1 release, Atebits added a few new features, including the often requested ability to save your searches. It’s a solid update.
Tweetie is currently my favorite, but it’s not perfect. Here’s a few reasons why.
Essential Omission
No AppleScript Support
This is my biggest complaint. AppleScript lets users add all the features to an app that are either too specialized for the wider audience or just workflow specific. Have a look at Scripts and Tricks for Twitterrific for a few ideas about how AppleScript could extend Tweetie.
Bugs and Annoyances
The Detached Post Box
Writing and reading are different things, and thus Tweetie’s functional separation of the two makes perfect sense, as does separate keyboard shortcuts for bringing the reading and tweeting window forward. About half the time, however – and this is surely a bug – bringing the post box forward via the keyboard also brings with it your followers’ updates. This is an annoyance I was hoping Tweetie 1.1 would fix. It didn’t.
Secondly, the keyboard shortcut should only activate one instance of the post box, even if you already have one open. If I open a post box, begin composing my tweet and then switch to Safari to grab a link, I should be able to call my active post box forward again with the keyboard. Instead, Tweetie creates a new post box which eclipses the first, partially filled in box. It’s possible to use Command + Tab to bring forward the original box, but again this brings with it your followers’ tweets. This needs to be thought out better.
The Nag Screen
Periodically on first launch, Tweetie confronts you with a nag message asking you to register the app. This is a problem for me. Either Tweetie is free, or it isn’t. I’m content to use an ad supported version of Tweetie. I’d also like to post to Twitter guilt free. A solution might be to display the nag message inline the same way as the ads are shown.
‘Go To User’
By default, Command + U should open the user profile of the selected tweeter. Instead, you’re presented with this:
The major problem is that I have my followers’ real name displayed with their tweets. The ‘Go To User’ dialogue box asks for their Twitter name. In many cases, I have no idea what that is. As is, it’s a near useless feature.
Selected Tweet Color
As a new addition to 1.1, the selected tweet no longer displays a subtle glow. Instead it’s a horrible bright blue which retains nothing of the subtlety of the previous display type and eschews consistency with the rest of the UI.
Wouldn’t it be Nice?
Google Maps and Search Nearby
Displaying a user’s profile could also show their world location on a Google Map. I have a feeling that this would look very pretty in Tweetie. From here, the ability to search nearby users would be a bonus.
A Combined Stream
I have two Twitter accounts: @PeterVk and @MacMembrane. I wouldn’t mind having the option to have a combined view.
Some Nifty Sound Effects
Why not make Tweetie sound as good as it looks? Distinct sounds for @replies, DMs and successful posts would make it so.
Advanced Search Controls
I have some ideas about how this could be implemented, and again, I’m sure it’d look very pretty given Atebits design acumen.
Final Thoughts
Tweetie has only been released for a few weeks now and I’ve no doubt that the app will continue to improve with each subsequent release. In its present form it’s the best Twitter app for Mac that I’ve tried. Try it out if you haven’t already and let me know how you think it could be better.
