Dear Twitter...

I like you, I really do. I like random pieces of (largely useless, thank you Qikipedia/Grey Sky Thinking) information being delivered to my phone. I like knowing what celebrities are up to and seeing random odd photographs of their pets/shoes/nails/lunch. I like the @ messages, and I like the direct messages, especially being of an age where having real-time discussions with people on other continents is still rather exciting to me (I know, I'm a lil old Quaint-o-saurus).


I even like hashtags, unless I'm using the Mac at work, what with Apple having discarded the "#" key in favour of random crap they made up themselves which serves no discernible function.

I don't like you enough to download any of the many Twitter apps onto my laptop. I only run two accounts, and one of those is an "Official" one that I don't need access to unless I'm actually broadcasting information with it. Which means I use your regular ol' website...bringing me to the main issue:-

I don't like your new layout. For example:

This is my Twitter homepage when I DON'T have a private message (if you click on any of the images you can view them larger...which may help with the following visual part of this presentation):

And this is my Twitter homepage when I DO have a private message:

Do you see the message alert? Really? Have another look. Give up? OK, I'll show you where the massive, noticeable message alert is:

That's it. One tiny little glow. No numbers, no envelopes...One small glowing blue blob. To make matters worse, sometimes the blob glows, and sometimes...It doesn't. Useful eh?


May I make a suggestion, Twitter? If you want to be all subtle and whatnot with your message alert and avoid numbers and envelopes and all of the common stuff everyone else uses, at least light up something noticeable (and make sure that it lights up every time). Might I suggest the lovely debossed bird that is just ripe for the glowifying, circled below:

Now wouldn't that be better, Twitter? Maybe it already lights up for something else, I don't know. But if it does, I am yet to find out what it is.

Love,

Me