Mike-Ward.Net

Tweetz 2.0 – Those Darn New Tweets

There’s an interesting tension in tweetz between knowing when new tweets arrive and viewing them. When I started out, I figured that because it was a gadget, I should simply display the new tweets when they come in. This plays well with Aero Peek and is how I like to use the program. Then there’s there are times when you are viewing older tweets and you don’t want the new tweets to change what you’re viewing.

It’s been suggested I add an option let the user decide which type of viewing is best for them. Personally, I don’t like “options” since it forces the user the “think” and make choices. I like to aim for making things just work like you expect.

I’m thinking the way to handle the “new tweets” is as follows:

• If you are scrolled to the top (scrollTop = 0) then the gadget auto refreshes.
• Otherwise, show an indication that there are new tweets.

As to the “indication” I’m thinking of removing the “new tweets” bar and simply placing a number next to the title of the panel. For instance: Home – 5. Clicking the refresh button updates and clears the count.

That’s my current vision of how new tweets should work. What do you think?

Switching Tabs: I’ve been thinking it might be better to remember the scroll position when switching to another tab. That way, when you come back, it will be where you left it as opposed to scrolling to the top. What do you think?

No one has noticed that the horizontal divider of the last new tweet is slightly different color to indicate the boundary of new tweets. Probably too subtle.