Twitter desktop client Seesmic Desktop is worth another look
Twitter desktop client Seesmic Desktop launched back in April with limited features and like its predecessor Twhirl, was as ugly as sin lacked in the looks department. But things for the new comer are on the up.
At the beginning of May, Seesmic Desktop became the first Twitter desktop client to properly incorporate the Facebook stream; that is, complete Facebook data with the ability to like and view threads. Impressive, but one step on the road to challenge front runner TweetDeck. I’m pleased to note that in its latest version, the frog may have turned into a half decent looking prince.
Seesmic founder Loic Lemeur has finally taken design away from the engineers and handed Seesmic Desktop to someone who isn’t visually retarded visual design challenged. Today, Seesmic looks great….sexy even. Gone are the awful background gradients, replaced instead by subtle color themes that define various columns. Coming from the minimalist conformity of TweetDeck, it is a little bit of a shock at first, but likewise the choices make sense, and they work. Looks have been scrubbed out of the negative column for Seesmic Desktop.
Is it enough to make me switch though? Maybe not quite yet, although I’m close and I may yet change my mind. Facebook isn’t a killer app for me, but multi-account support in Twitter is, and that’s something Seesmic Desktop does that Tweetdeck doesn’t. There are though still limitations with Seesmic Desktop. There’s still no options for visual customization; while it looks great now, I feel that the text is a little cramped, and I would love the ability to do white on black. Seesmic Desktop is still a little feature poor compared to TweetDeck; I regularly cite the lack of TweetShrink, but likewise a choice of URL shortening is something else that immediately stands out for me. For others, there’s a range of extras Seesmic Desktop doesn’t yet offer.
If you haven’t tried Seesmic Desktop lately, it’s worth another look. You can download it here.
