Tweeters rejoice! Using Twitter just got a little bit better for Mac and mobile users.
mobile.twitter.com
The mobile Twitter site, found at mobile.twitter.com, has been updated with the latest Web technologies, including HTML5, to look and feel more like a native app. Doing so brings the mobile site up to speed with the aesthetic seen on Twitter clients like Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Mac.
Only 2.6 percent of tweets originate from mobile.twitter.com, according to the latest data from Sysomos, but there might be even more users who simply fire up Safari or other mobile browsers to quickly read up on their timeline.
Besides, some users with high-end touchscreen devices don’t have access to official Twitter apps and, of those that do, not all want to use them.
The app is fast – you can quickly scroll through your timeline, move between tabs and compose Tweets. It’s rich – it takes advantage of capabilities that high-end device browsers offer, such as touch gestures and a large screen. And it’s simple – it’s easy-to-use and has the features you’d expect from a Twitter application, including your timeline, @mentions, messages that you can read in conversation view, search, trending topics, lists, and more.
It’s kind of like Twitter’s version of touch.facebook.com.
While not all users will see the new mobile site immediately, it will be gradually rolling out over the next few weeks. In the meantime, most users will see the existing version.
Also: we’re still waiting for the mobile Twitter site to get the always-on HTTPS security feature.
Twitter for Mac
Available to all users immediately from the Mac App Store, Twitter for Mac 2.1 brings a host of new features, including multi-window support, username and hashtag autocomplete, several design updates and more.
By clicking the “Window” menu and selecting “Open in New Window,” users can open any timeline in its own window. The majority of users will find this useful for seeing multiple timelines at once, but it can also be used to create a separate window just for mentions, messages or even searches.
Since users will have more windows open now, Twitter has added a bar to the top of each window so it’s easy to click between them. (Previously, the newest tweet was flush with the top of the app.) Other design additions include a hardly visible “New Tweet” button in the bottom left corner of the app, improved messages interface and improved user profiles.
Finally, when tweeting, users will see the app autocompleting usernames and hashtags for them.
Even less used than mobile.twitter.com, Twitter for Mac accounts for 0.4 percent of originating tweets.
