Twitter Unifies Its iOS App Design And Development

RIP designed for iPad? Twitter has unified the design and development of its iOS apps, switching from developing and designing each app separately, off of a shared code base, to using responsive web design to handle the various different screen sizes without having to pour in as much engineering resource.

Twitter is calling its new responsive iOS framework “adaptive UI”, and says it’s currently rolling it out to its iOS apps. The move follows Apple adopting a responsiveness framework in iOS 8 with size classes.

Cupertino has of course been introducing more screen sizes to its iOS device portfolio in recent years, with a spectrum of screen sizes now in play, from legacy sub-4 inches iPhones still in use by consumers, right up to 9.7 inch iPads (and rumors of an even larger iPad Pro slated to be unboxed at the Apple event later today), making adaptive design more appropriate.

Writing about the change to its iOS apps in a blog post yesterday, Twitter noted: “Previously, Twitter for iPhone and iPad offered very different experiences. Now, Twitter apps on these devices will be more consistent regardless of which one you’re using. Starting today, iPad users will be able to create and see revamped quote Tweets, explore trending topics in search, visit product and place pages, and more.”

Consistency also = control. So the move arguably helps Twitter address and make the most of its never-large-enough-for-the-investors user-base, regardless of which iOS device they happen to be using its Twitter client on. (While it has of course been discouraging use of third party Twitter clients for years — although some do persist.)

Twitter’s own spin on the shift is that the adaptive approach will allow it to support new iOS features more quickly. It sums up its new iOS philosophy as “a way of thinking about environment rather than device, and designing for all possible environments”.

It writes:

Now, we have new tools that are more robust and allow faster iteration. Adaptive UI gives us the ability to support new devices and bring new Twitter features to people faster… Ultimately, it’s no longer Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for iPad: it’s Twitter for iOS, and it will now be optimized for different contexts. That’s a freedom which helps us to make Twitter the best experience it can be for everyone, regardless of device.

That said, it’s not going to be a ‘seamlessly consistent’ experience between iPhone and iPad Twitter apps from here on in. Twitter caveats the above point by noting that “from time to time” there will be “some differences in features and functionality between devices” — although it adds that its future aim is to achieve “complete feature parity” across iPad and iPhone.

Comments

How Education Will Be Smarter, Less Intrusive, And Able To Respond To How You Feel

Impatience characterizes the technology sector’s approach to education. Disruption is taking place in all other sectors of society — so, why not education? I know too well, whether at Pearson or in the classroom, the challenges and frustration of developing and using digital tools that improve outcomes for students. But I’m optimistic. We are on the verge of a tide of smarter innovation that, if allowed to spread, will turbocharge the learning experience for students. Here are four areas worth watching: 1. Using technology to learn from learners Every great digital product constantly evolves by learning from its users, adding capabilities, and improving its performance. If it’s true for your Facebook feed, then why not education? The potential is there, as the OECD’s recent report on Students, Computers and Learning (OECD) incidentally showed how clickstream and tracking navigation in digital readers can be used to see how students process online text and...

Google Announces Android Wear Update With WiFi Support, Always-On Apps, And More

It has been a while since Android Wear got any substantial updates, but today Google is announcing a big one. A new version of Wear will be rolling out over the coming weeks that includes a number of previously rumored features (like WiFi support) and some all new stuff (like always-on apps). Most Wear devices use the always-on ambient mode for the watch face by default, the Moto 360 being a notable exception. The new Android Wear version allows apps to operate in ambient mode too, so they remain active when the watch goes to sleep. That makes it easier to take a quick glance at the app instead of waking the device up and opening the app all over again. The watch will still only go into full-color mode when necessary. WiFi support is also coming in the update, which means your watch can be useful even if your phone isn't connected. Watches with WiFi support will be able to connect to WiFi and still get messages and notifications from your phone, provided it has an interne...

The Eight Most Impactful Excel Shortcuts That You Should Master

If you’ve ever gone online to research improving your Excel skills, you’ve undoubtedly come across a post or two listing all of Excel’s keyboard shortcuts. In the latest version of Excel, Microsoft has made it easier than ever to learn shortcuts, by assigning shortcuts to nearly every function and making the discovery of the input sequence very transparent. While memorizing Excel shortcuts will generally improve your productivity, not all shortcuts are created equal. Shortcuts that you never use are not inherently not very useful and not worth memorizing. Your focus should be on the shortcuts that have the most impact – either by the amount of time it saves you, the frequency that you’ll use them, or the behavior it encourages. If you’ve already started using Excel or just haven’t utilized shortcuts heavily before, review the top eight shortcuts below. For any that you don’t know already, I would suggest memorizing them and incorp...

Budding #entrepreneur from Chandigarh University!!

Budding #entrepreneur from Chandigarh University!! #CU #students unfolded their creative ideas and presented them with a productive shape! Meet Our #Automobile #Engineering student - Trilok Singh, who has started his own start-up with the name GEARR TECHNOLOGIES under the guidance of CU-TBI. This start up focuses on affordable high end #Bicycles and its high #technology equipment’s. This start- up will bring to the Indian audience the scope of Products, #innovation, creativity and customization available in the market. Watch the video!!

Exciting Technology

Search This Blog