Twitter has redesigned its desktop homepage in a bid to match the look and feel of its mobile app versions.
The new design and layout clearly resembles Twitter for iOS and Android, with the cover image now behind the profile pic at the top-left side of the screen, for a more visually appealing page. Though the layout was there already when you checked into your profile page, the profile pic on the homepage didn't have a cover photo before the update.
We're now rolling out a refreshed http://t.co/eNvqKTup1d reflecting the look & feel of our iOS & Android apps. pic.twitter.com/Mb6qjjP8Dm
- Twitter (@twitter) January 13, 2014
Twitter changed the dark black toolbar across the top to clean white and increased the font sizes below each profile pic. But the navigational elements - Connect, Discover, and so on - are intact and the same.
The new desktop homepage allows you to personalize your profile and add more color. For instance, you may change the color of some features, such as the navigation icons and compose box, just like changing link colors in the feed. All of these modifications are under the Design tab in Settings.
Though it still has the profile box and other information at the left side of the main timeline column, now there's an inline compose box, allowing you to tweet without dealing with the pop-up one. But the pop-up compose box is still available through the "new tweet" button in the top right corner, or through the hotkey.
Putting a compose box in the left column makes the interface seem lightweight and easier to the eyes, urging people to tweet more than merely putting it below the compose button.
In brief, the update is only aesthetic. Twitter didn't add any new functionality to Twitter.com or change its mobile apps.
A few users first saw the design when they accessed Twitter's website. They were likely chosen as the test accounts that Twitter experiments with to assess whether or not new features, layouts, designs, and functionalities will appeal to the whole community. If you already had the design for weeks, hats off to you because Twitter added you to its test accounts. The company regularly conducts its experiments to a great extent, giving one percent of its users the refreshed design or new feature to monitor changes in behavior before it rolls out the changes to a wider audience.
Twitter said the redesigned desktop homepage started rolling out on Monday and will reach everyone in the next few days.