Review: TweetDeck desktop Twitter client
TweetDeck is arguably one of the most popular desktop Twitter clients currently available. With the number of features available in TweetDeck, there is a little bit of something for everyone.
Perhaps that is the problem. In my opinion, TweetDeck’s user-interface appears to be a work-in-progress waiting to progress as new features are developed instead. Recent updates haven’t done much to improve the interface, and it certainly could use some love. The tiny buttons which are the key to most of TweetDeck’s features look a bit out of place, and the default color scheme is as dark and gloomy as the TweetDeck website. While you can change the color scheme in the settings window, the default colors are not my idea of a good first impression.
I would need to see major improvement to the TweetDeck user-interface before I would feel comfortable recommending it. I believe that Twitter applications should be simple and easy to use, much like Twitter itself. Though TweetDeck isn’t the most difficult software to navigate, the user interface is not very intuitive.
The overall functionality of TweetDeck is acceptable, I haven’t had any major issues aside from the UI design (and this: Hidden TweetDeck Ad Injected Into Blog). And I do like that you can choose whether the Tweet notifications appear at the top or bottom of the screen, as I use a notifier for my email accounts which displays in far right of the browser status bar, and having TweetScoop integrated with TweetDeck is a nice touch. TweetDeck can be used with your Facebook account as well.
At this time, I will be sticking with Seesmic. My opinion is that TweetDeck is simply not as user-friendly as Seesmic, and it lacks the same level of polish.