Adding a little continuity for users and advertisers, Twitter is streamlining the look and feel of its popular iPhone and iPad apps.
The problem with Twitter for iPad and Twitter for iPhone is that the two apps were originally developed and designed separately, according to Brendan Donohoe, a product designer at Twitter, in a new blog post.
The development of a new iPad experience reflects what Donohoe calls a fresh “responsive philosophy,” which his team used to develop a framework accommodating a multi-device ecosystem. They call the framework “adaptive UI.”
“Now, Twitter apps on these devices will be more consistent regardless of which one you’re using,” Donohoe notes.
For iPad users, that means they can now create and see revamped quote Tweets, discover trending topics in search, as well as visit product and place pages.
Complaints about subpar user-friendliness have plagued Twitter for years; they are widely believed to have contributed to CEO Dick Costolo’s ouster, this summer.
Still finding its way, the social giant just tapped Jeff Seibert to service consumer products. Seibert has previously overseen developer products for more than a year.
Per the change, Twitter SVP Kevin Weil is still head of all products -- including ad products, developer products, Vine and Periscope.
Among other improvements, Twitter says it can now determine an optimum line length that makes reading comfortable and easy, regardless of the text size a user has chosen. Twitter can also adjust image presentation for the orientation of a user’s screen, which should make for better photo browsing.
“Ultimately, it’s no longer Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for iPad,” Donohoe said. “It’s Twitter for iOS, and it will now be optimized for different contexts.”