Twitter has unveiled a new web design that gives its user interface for desktop and laptop users a more cohesive look to its iOS and Android mobile applications.
The refreshed look, spotted Monday, moves the user's profile box, among other information, to the left of the timeline where who to follow section and the trending topics are seen. Twitter also integrated a compose box that will allow users to send out updates without dealing with a pop up box.
The navigation bar on top with the Home, Connect, Discover, and other buttons also got a cleaner look consistent with the redesign. One obvious change on the top bar is the icon for Direct Messages that gets a more "chatty" look. Hidden on the settings menu now is an option to choose accent colors for their profiles in addition to the ability to add. The stream of tweets seemed to be left untouched.
"We're now rolling out a refreshed twiiter.com reflecting the look & feel of our iOS & Android apps," the company tweeted along with a screenshot of the lighter design for the web.
We're now rolling out a refreshed https://t.co/eNvqKTup1d reflecting the look & feel of our iOS & Android apps. pic.twitter.com/Mb6qjjP8Dm
— Twitter (@twitter) January 13, 2014
The micro-blogging company is still in the process of implementing the UI facelift to all of its users.
"If some of you are looking at this design and thinking 'hmm, this is how mine has looked for weeks', then congratulations, you're in one of Twitter's test buckets. The company experiments heavily, giving 1% of its users a tweaked or refreshed design and testing how they interact with it before rolling out changes on a wider scale. We've been getting reports of this particular design - or one with some of its elements - for a few weeks now," wrote Matthew Panzarino of Tech Crunch.
The mobile-inspired revamp of the web interface is also an attempt by Twitter to lure lurkers to actually use the platform and send out tweets. It might also be an indication of how the attention is switching to the mobile platform as the market's interest on desktops dwindle and perhaps in the near future, laptops might be replaced by bigger and capable tablets.
Twitter did not announce other updates beyond the obvious cosmetic changes.
In December, the company introduced the Favorite button for Android users and experimented on "Nearby" tweets.
