Friday, May 15, 2009

Making Twitter Easier: Thwirl (Part I)

Unlike, Tweetdeck, Thwirl is designed with a minimalist approach in mind. While Tweetdeck can take up a lot of real estate on your desktop, Thwirl is designed to be like a Windows Vista widget.



The interface displayed above shows everything Tweetdeck did, but doesn't display as much, or make the display as big. By default, all the tweets in your subscription stream appear. But you can use the buttons long the bottom to change the display to replies, direct messages (DMs), anything you've marked as a favorite (more about that in a future installment), or followers and those you follow.

To show followers, click the Friends/Followers button at the botton, then click the Followers button at the top. To show those you are following, click the Friends/Followers button, then click the Friends button at the top.


Controlling the API
As with any Twitter application, you must control the calls you make to the API or you'll be shut out until the next hour. To control the API calls in Thwirl, click the wrench button in the upper right corner, then click the Network tab and adjust the sliders.



Upcoming: Thwirl searches and shortening URLs in Thwirl

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