Twitter redesigns desktop website to look, feel like its Android and iOS apps

Micro-blogging website Twitter on Monday announced a complete revamp and overhaul of its desktop Web interface. The announcement was made to better mirror the experience of visiting the popular one-to-many text messaging service on smartphones.

The San Francisco-based outfit said, "We're now rolling out a refreshed http://twitter.com reflecting the look and feel of our iOS and Android apps." The change comes as users increasingly take to visiting social networks and other online properties from mobile devices instead of laptop or desktop computers.

The new modifications on the Twitter webpage however, were mostly cosmetic. No new tools were added to the webpage. Neither were new features added to it. The profile picture and background art were moved to the upper left side, where a box makes it more convenient to compose and tweet messages. Interestingly users now also have the option of personalising their new profile pages with accent colours.

TechCrunch reports that the new look is very to an older version. Twitter was reportedly in the testing phase of the new design as far back as November last year, where it was working on a lighter and flatter design. The cosmetic changes had then incorporated a more prominent look for the logo. The changes then were also closely in sync with the mobile version. The inline compose box however is the biggest change with Monday's update, along with the elimination of the pop-up compose box. The box can still be accessed via the new tweet button in the top right corner.

The new revamp comes close on the heels of the Jelly app that was unveiled recently by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. Available free for iOS and Android, it allows users to tap into their online social networks for answers about things they see. It syncs with Twitter and Facebook accounts, and allows users to obtain answers from friends who use the app. 

Twitter, founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, has over 200 million users and 2000 employees.