Downsides of Twitter’s New Homepage


On March 31st Twitter unveiled a newly designed homepage yet again. No one seems to have a problem with the new design except for me.

Here are the downsides of Twitter’s newly designed home page:

Overall

The new homepage doesn’t stand out enough like the last one, has no main focus, is too dynamic, and doesn’t focus enough on recurring users.

Top Tweets

Just like the last home page in which Justin Bieber was some how always the most trended topic, the top tweets are still only about Bieber. Also it’s too dynamic combined with the trending topics which makes the home page confusing.

Trending Topics

The “Trending Topics” along with the “Top Tweets” which rotate in two different directions could easily confuse someone on Twitter for the first time. Not only that, when you mouse over a topic, a pointless black bubble pops up with absolutely no purpose.

New to Twitter

The “New to Twitter” capsule seems to scream out that it should be placed at the same height as “Top Tweets”, it simply looks out of place. The focus on new users is way more apparent on this home page as opposed to the last one, in which there was merely a large yellow sign up button. I though preferred the last design’s sign up button because it was clean and didn’t use too much of Twitter’s valuable home page.

Sign In

The first time I visited the new home page it took me three minutes to locate the sign in button. Yes it’s the same style and placement but now it blends in to the background and is crunched up behind the “New to Twitter.”

Are you a fan of Twitter’s newly designed home page? Or not?

This is a guest post I wrote for Inspired Magazine. To see it there, click here.

  • http://cashwithatrueconscience.com/rbblog Ryan

    I don’t mind the new look but agree with you in that it’s too busy. The old home page was clean and concise.

    It took me a minute to find the log-in too.
    .-= Ryan´s last blog post: Don’t Share Your Money Problems with Me, I Don’t Want Them =-.

    • http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

      I agree that it’s not a big deal, just wanted to point out the problems…

  • http://www.Escapingthe9to5.com Maren Kate

    I agree with you, it is too much – the simpler the better is so often the case in a world where there are so many “options” continually shoved down our throats – i had always appreciated the very simple design of the last one.

    • http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

      Glad you agree, definitely understand your point.

  • http://www.bloggingtips.co.in Blogging Tips

    Yup new homepage is not much satisfying as the old one.
    .-= Blogging Tips´s last blog post: Why subscribing to RSS is important ? =-.

    • http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

      Thanks for commenting!

  • http://www.venturemixx.com Tony Ruiz

    I’ll be honest with you I never noticed how important or effective the twitter homepage was. However you do bring up some great points.

    • http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

      Well Twitter is one of the most popular sites on the web, even if you don’t spend a lot of your time on the home page it’s important to understand what’s going on with it…

      • http://www.venturemixx.com Tony Ruiz

        No doubt Ben

  • http://www.youngprepro.com Onibalusi Bamidele

    Hi Benjamin,
    You are absolutely right, I prefer the first homepage to this new one, I don’t think everything was effectively planned before this new one was rolled out.
    Thanks.
    .-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog post: Interview with Anthony Adams =-.

    • http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

      Hi,
      Glad you agree, hopefully they’ll have a new design layout soon!

  • http://www.dennisedell.com/about Dennis Edell

    Wasn’t “easy” the main selling point behind Twitter from the start?

    Seems odd that they would busy-up the home page in such a way.
    .-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog post: DEDC Remains DoFollow – BUT… =-.

    • http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

      Great point, it should be much simpler like the last design, in order to promote the “easiness” aspect of Twitter.

  • http://imagineanything.com/ TampaSEO

    The best thing about twitter is simplicity, They should just keep it bare and simple.

    • http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

      Yeah, everyone seems to agree that simplicity should be more evident for Twitter’s home page.

  • http://shirley.shirleyszone.com/ Shirley

    I don’t have any problem with the sign in button but I don’t like the See who’s here and Top tweets that have been added and also the right sidebar that has the sign up button.

    So in all, I think that the former design was good :) .
    .-= Shirley´s last blog post: Shirley Osei-Mensah At TEDxYouthInspire 2010 =-.

    • http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

      Well, at least you think the former design was better like almost everyone else ;)

      • http://shirley.shirleyszone.com/ Shirley

        Yeah :) .

  • http://brendanwenzel.net Brendan

    Twitter has a homepage? I never go to Twitter.com anymore because I use third party apps for all my Twittering. So, I guess I don’t really have an opinion.
    .-= Brendan´s last blog post: Justin McCullough’s Twitter Ebook Project =-.

    • http://ben-lang.com Ben Lang

      Yeah haha, for the few that still do use Twitter directly, it has changed.