HootSuite vs TweetDeck – My point of view

Okay, Ive been using HootSuite for a while now, however recently I’ve been experiencing some technical problems with it, and that made me give TweeDeck a try. I still haven’t decided which one is better for my needs, but here are some thoughts…

Design

I definitely prefer the dark background in TweetDeck, I think it gives a more clear, organized look, also, I think HootSuite’s design looks a little out-of-date.

Logo

That’s an easy one… HootSuite definitely wins here! I just LOVE the owl logo, so cute and smart.

User Interface

In HootSuite there are tabs and columns for different topics, lists, users and so on, while in TweetDeck you only add columns. At first this seemed like a disadvantage, but after I’ve been using it for a while I can say that I really prefer to see all of my information in one place, where all I have to do as a user is scroll right or left between the columns, as opposed to HootSuite where you first have to enter some tabs, then scroll inside columns and so on. Also, in HooutSuite the numbet of columns you can add for one tab is limited to 4. No Limitation in the deck.

In HootSuite, a big part of the user screen is the writing bar, where users write their tweets, in TweetDeck you can make this bar hide by pressing one tiny button, that’s great because it gives you much more space to see all the tweets of the people you follow.

As for the options buttons (RT, Reply, DM) I think both apps are lacking in this area. The navigation in these buttons is pretty difficuly and very unfriendly. I also don’t like the fack that in TweetDeck links are automatically  underlined… that adds some cognitive load which is really unnecessary.

Functionality

Both offer pretty much the same functionality. In TweetDeck you can’t add a column of your own tweets, you have to first make a special search and then add this as a column – that’s pretty annoying, it definitely should be one of the core columns.

Language

A big minus goes here to TweetDeck – no support in Hebrew, it simply doesn’t display tweets that are written in Hebrew.

To sum up… Both apps are pretty cool and useful, they offer pretty much the same functionality, but each one gives something a bit different.

So what’s your opinion?

OR

Chrome for designers

What if i told you that the Google chrome browser has a special extensions for web design?

well check out these 32 cool google chrome extension that will make your life easier.

[Via 1stwebdesigner]

Colors and their meaning

Colors have different meaning to different people from different cultures.

For examples, in my country (Israel), WHITE symbolizes purity, holiness, it’s considered to be a festive color, we wear white in certain holidays or when going to synagogue, however, this color in other countries has a whole different meaning – in China white is the color of mourning.

It’s important to know the differences of meaning for each color, and to take this into consideration while designing a website or a user interface.

Here’s a nice useful tool to help you do just that.

Via Information is beautiful

Wood Texture In Web Design

Another nice element for web design is wood texture.

Wood textures give a natural and organic feel to a website, also to me wood textures give a warm and inviting feeling, however, is it suitable for any website, or does the website purpose has to do with something like nature or carpentry or other things that have to do with wood?

This great collection of wood textured websites shows that wood texture designs can fit a large variety of websites, there are some really beautiful examples!

Via inspirationfeed

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Amazing T-shirt designs

Summer is here!  :)

It’s time to take off all the layers (not that we actually wear many layers here, since it’s hot most of the year) and wear some cool, light T-shirts!
Check out this amazing huge collection of cool, creative and very summery T-shirt designs.

The full Collection

Via 2expertsdesign

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Album Cover Art

Who doesn’t love music? What a better combination there is other than design and music? Designing album covers to me is on of the most amazing job that can be!

Today I found this very cool post with a large awesome collection of album cover art. You can find there – illustrations covers, minimal covers, photo-manipulation covers, photo covers and found object covers. A really great creative collection!

If you were given the chance, what band/singer/musician would you chose to design album cover for? Mine is definitely Leonard Cohen!

Via DENISdesigns

Navigation menus – Usability & Creativity

Navigation menus are a crucial element in testing every website usability. Navigation menus should be simple, intuitive and of course user-friendly. But who said that these navigation menus can’t also be creative and attractive?

In this post – 20 great examples of creative navigation menus.

Via xyberworks

The art of take away

we discovered that our favorite restaurant has a delivery service so we have ordered a couple of burgers.

the place called moses, check out the very nice packing and branding that they are using.

in case you were wondering – the burgers were very tasty… and its in israel !

cimg01392

cimg01362

cimg01372

cimg01381

Memorable design quotes visualized

A great post – 40 memorable design quotes visualized.

Via Richworks

Templates And PSDs To Ease Daily Workflow

An excellent very useful post.

Templates can help you when you don’t really know how to start your design or don’t know the exact size of, for example, business card. Templates can be useful to show off your DVD, T-shirt etc design very fast – take advantages of already premade templates and files you can find freely over the Internet!

Great templates and PSDs for – business card, Twitter background, film strip DVD case, iPhone, magazine and many more!

Via 1stwebdesigner