Twitter’s social media dashboard for managing your Twitter account, TweetDeck, received a lighter, simpler design today for the web and the TweetDeck Chrome app. In the new design, Twitter’s moved the options and navigation panel from its horizontal position across the top of your columns to a vertical position that runs down the left side of your dashboard. Twitter has also added features for improved navigation, better column management, and a cleaner look. I have to say I’m quite fond of the update, as it makes TweetDeck easier to use and navigate.
Features of the New Navigation Bar
The navigation bar takes up minimal space by displaying icons without labels. At the top of the bar you’ll find the New Tweet button, which opens a familiar window for you to can compose new tweets. Next in line is the Search icon; clicking the icon makes a search box pop out, complete with auto suggestions for popular keywords and related users.
Further down, the navigation bar sports a series of icons that represent your columns. Though you may not find find the icons intuitive at first, you can quickly view a column’s full title by hovering over its icon. It’s important to note that to rearrange columns you’ll now need to drag a column’s icon up or down in the columns list to change its position.
Another handy feature of the columns icons is the ability to move your dashboard’s display to a particular column simply by clicking on its icon. This is especially handy for those column-happy users who have loaded their dashboards with many columns.
Beneath the column icons you’ll find buttons for adding a column, expanding the navigation bar, viewing your lists, and accessing your TweetDeck settings.
All in all the update makes TweetDeck much more pleasant to use, and I foresee myself using the dashboard a bit more often over HootSuite, which now isn’t nearly as attractive.
In other news, read about Twitter’s hilarious slip-up when they first announced TweetDeck’s revamp.
Does TweetDeck’s update make you want to use their dashboard more often? Were you already a heavy TweetDeck user?