Python Twitter Tools Redesign
The Look
The original project page was not serving justice to the greatness that is Python Twitter Tools. Lately I’ve noticed that branding is very much tied to the typeface that is chosen to represent it. I knew that for something like a suite of developer tools, that a rugged looking slab serif font would fit in nicely. So the logo and other prominent branding elements would take this style. Archer in particular caught my eye. It also looked good in its slimmer form, and so that was used for the catchphrase, a perfect way to provoke a sense of cool and sleekness. Now, it is common to see slab serifs used in headlines, and this sort of reminded me of big and bold letterpress printed posters often seen on concert flyers and posters. These commonly revolve around a few tones of colors. For some reason I thought of a cream color, and dark blues. I wanted to show the connectedness that Twitter offers, and thought a cool map graphic would work, I also saw on the Hoefler & Frere-Jones site, a similar map graphic that worked well with the Archer font. And so I attempted one. The asterisks are used to denote each person in the network and represent the text-based entry at the command-line client, one of the Twitter tools included in PTT.
The Layout
I wanted the layout to be familiar to Twitter users. If you look at twitter.com when logged in, you’ll notice that the focal point of the web interface is a column of recent tweets. It’s narrow relative to the total width, and I think it reinforces the clean, simple, and light feel which is really symbolic of Twitter. So that influenced the narrow look with the PTT redesign. I decided to keep the content oriented in sections as it was before. The purpose of the site is to explain what PTT is, and provide relevant documentation on installation and usage among other things. This sort of organization is common for documentation so users feel familiar and will not struggle to find information. A common problem exists with long pages that supply large amounts of content. When the page becomes too long, the user can’t quickly get a big picture for all the relevant sections/content that they may need. To solve this, navigation links were added in the header, that jump to their associated section on the page.
The Catchphrase
I love catchphrases. But you have to err on the side of caution. I hate gimmicky lines that have no real meaning to the underlying context and don’t truly represent the product in question. So I thought about what PTT had to offer, and what made it different. What would entice Twitterers to check it out? The following are the main ideas and train of thought that got me to the well-purposed, “Lean. Sweet. Tweet.”.
You have to understand that the command-line Twitter client is as simple as it gets. You’re sitting at a blinking cursor, and you can do what any Twitterer needs. It’s small, simple, and basic, all in a good way. It’s lean.
But hey, there’s also a kick ass minimalist Twitter API, that let’s you grab all of your friend’s tweets, or your own and perhaps use them in some very social way on the intertubes. Heck, both the IRC bot and Twitter command-line client are using the API, so just think of what other neat stuff you can do. Really?! It’s all written in Python? Sweet!
Ok, so you know with all these cool tools you can do some pretty neat stuff. But you know, what will draw other Twitter enthusiasts and developers to PTT at the end of the day, is the fact that we all just want a cool new way to Tweet!
About Python Twitter Tools
Mike Verdone is the mastermind behind the minimalist Twitter API and it is just one of the cool things you’ll find in Python Twitter Tools. Also included is a command-line Twitter client, and a Twitter IRC bot! I recently played around with what Python Twitter Tools had to offer, and what stood out to me was the simplicity of this suite of tools. The command-line is typically hallowed ground for hackery, but with Python Twitter Tools, sitting at the command-line has never been so cool.
