Filed under: Web services, Social Software, Microblogging
Brizzly: full-featured web client for Twitter
On the plus side, Brizzly allows you to save drafts of tweets, a feature I wish Twitter.com would incorporate. Its threaded interface for direct messages is also nice, and looks a bit like a Google Talk window. If you DM a lot, Brizzly will definitely make it easier to follow your conversations. Brizzly also tells you when there are new tweets in your stream, so you're not fruitlessly hitting refresh to read Twitter. Keyboard shortcuts are handy, too: The j and k keys scroll up and down, which Gmail and Google Reader users will be familiar with. On top of that, photos and videos are displayed inline, instead of making you click through.
Brizzly's not all great, though. It's unfortunately just not a very pretty website, and I don't think I can look at it every day. I'm not saying we're in Fugly Friday territory, but the design is weak, especially the prominent trending topics box. I also miss having my follower/following numbers and my friends' icons in the sidebar, the way Twitter.com does it. Some people might find that useless, but I would say the same about trending topics. It's all a matter of taste, so if Brizzly's array of features fits your needs, and you don't mind its appearance, you should definitely give it a shot.
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Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jeremy Dixon said 10:41AM on 9-30-2009
Honestly, the only thing in that list that's interesting to me is the drafts, but with futuretweets out there and tweetdeck on my machine I have pretty much all i need. It'll have a tough sell for me.
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KLF said 3:30PM on 9-30-2009
I disagree - I think the site looks fine, and I actually appreciate the prominent Trend keywords and the multiple account support - something that's missing on Twitter.com.
I also enjoy that linked images are automatically put into the stream. That's a great idea that doesn't even appear in a lot of desktop clients.
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adgth1 said 10:42PM on 9-30-2009
What the hell is an invitation code?
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Joao Almeida said 7:40AM on 10-01-2009
Having some kind of user lookup, like desktop apps have, in the message window would be helpful
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halophoenix said 9:57AM on 10-01-2009
I'm with you on drafts, that's useful - but there's user and tweet search at the top of the window, support for multiple Twitter accounts, support for groups of users, and I really think the DM interface on the side is something that's really really worth more discussion on.
Add to that the fact that not only does Brizzly display images and video in-line with the rest of your tweets but it also expands shortened URLs so you can see what you're clicking before you do, and has its own URL shortening and image hosting service so all you have to do is paste or upload your image to include it in your tweet.
I agree that the UI isn't anything horribly special, but I think the desire was to keep it simple, elegant, and above all functional - there's a reason people are scrambling to get their hands on invites, and while it probably won't sway me from my desktop Twitter app, it's got features that could sway a lot of people.
Give the app a little more time and another try, and I think you'll find more to like. I did a hands-on myself with it and did a pretty lengthy writeup with screenshots:
http://www.appscout.com/2009/09/hands_on_with_brizzly_an_app_t.php
Might help you out a bit? :)
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