Most of us at Mac360 agree on what constitutes a good Mac-like app. That means we know which Mac apps the staff prefers. Except for Twitter apps.
Down to each writer, we all prefer to use different apps for Twitter. I started on Twitter with Twitterrific, and switched through the past few years to Tweetie, Tweetings, and others. Today is full circle. Twitterrific again.
Twitter And Twitterrific Is Terrific Again
If you use Twitter and keep it all tucked into Safari or Firefox or the browser experience, then you’re missing plenty of what Twitter can do (besides that whole ‘wasting time’ argument).
Some of us loved Tweetie. When it became Twitter’s official Mac app, well, not so much.
True time wasting aficionados like their bells and whistles, their tweaks and features, and that’s where Twitterrific for Mac shines.
Twitterrific looks easy to use, and it it, but underneath it’s actually a full-featured, complex app that becomes more than the sum of the parts.
Take a look at the free Twitterrific version (the one that’s ad supported).
The Toolbar is nominal but useful. Multiple accounts are supported (many of us have family accounts, personal accounts, and business accounts). Selecting from one account to another is a mere click.
Twitterrific has multiple theme looks, tool. Dark and light. One screen gives you account, mentions, messages, and color coding. Adding a tweet is a single click (the text field is at the top, not a pop up that disappears among your many Mac windows).
The new version supports translation to native languages, in-app photo viewing (Instagram plixi and others), in app email, replies, and URL shortening built-in.
There’s also support for Instapaper, photo and video uploads, and functions to follow, unfollow, block, and report spammers with a click.
Preferences are extensive, too, including font sizes, a slider for refresh times, show real name and mentions, and options for which URL shortening service to use, and which upload service.
As one who was disappointed with Twitter’s official Mac app, especially the strange interface, Twitterrific is more palatable for me.
Both Toolbar and Sidebar can be toggled on and off to make Twitterrific less visible on a crowded screen.
Grabbing an image to upload is a click away.
Built-in iSight camera support would be cool handy.
As would the ability to get to 140 characters without having to include a URL link in the count (kudos to Twitter for getting that right) and a click to shorten the link.
In short, I like Twitterrific. It’s more feature laden than my current fave, Tweetings (I love the scheduled tweets feature, though), nominally priced (and free if you don’t mind ads). It’s a well done and likable app, considering how much time is wasted using it (don’t get me started on Facebook).
About Alexis Kayhill
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