YJL

1   Introduction

This is the Twitter Web++ Chrome Extension:

This extension adds some buttons above the status input box. Here is another screenshot:

Its options page:

2   Current features (v0.1)

• URL Shortening — Bit.ly (j.mp)
• Quick Text — Allows you to predefine some text for adding to your status easily.
• Mentions, hashtags, lists, and retweeter pulling — When you click on Reply button to reply a tweet, this will automatically insert mentions, etc. for you. This not only works on home page (the one has status input box) but also on other pages, such as list page, status page.
• Self-reply button — Human does talk to self sometimes. :)
• Replied indicator — A pink border drawn around the last tweet you click on Reply button. So you can continue reading from where you left.
• Dim or remove trending topics — You can set up Regular Expression to dim or remove a topic.
• Few Twitter changes: Add a few CSS visual transitions.

3   Install

Go to extension page¹ to install it.

4   Why this?

I’m always a good user of Twitter’s web interface. I had used some Firefox’s add-ons, desktop applications, such as Twhirl, some client for Linux. But none of them can do better than Twitter’s web interface, at least, for the features I need. It’s fast(er) and no API limit, you can refresh as much as you need, it automatically updates every 30 seconds. Why do you need an application which sucks up your computer memory?

I know some (or many) of you wouldn’t agree my opinion above, and I don’t really just use web interface. I have my own program to do some things which web interface couldn’t. In fact, none of any client I know of could.

However, there are some small bits I would like to have on web interface. First thing is the mentions and hashtags pulling. I know TweetDeck can do that, but I never used it. I think that’s a pretty good idea. You can keep your tweets with someone to be found by same hashtag. Or the mentions make the tweet show up in their @mentions tab, though I believe not all people read their @mentions tab often. (My own program checks @mentions every 60 seconds and the home timeline as well)

Second thing is I want is to avoid using Compose key to type in some special symbols or punctuations. I have IME (Input Method Editor) installed which cause compose key not work, I have to do two clicks and that’s a bit of inconvenient for me. Therefore, I had the idea of Quick Text, a group of buttons to insert predefined text. You can use it to input anything, canned message, perhaps?

Then the Replied indicator, it’s very common to have a few pages (each have 20 tweets) after sleep. Before, I read them one by one, reply some of them. But after I reply, I scroll back and couldn’t find where I leave to reply. It’s not easy to look into dozens of tweets. So, an indicator would make tweeting easier.

Self-reply, I did a few times to talk to myself. Usually, just correct my own mistakes. You have to copy a reply link and change the status id and in_reply_to. If you didn’t know you can reply to yourself, you probably didn’t tweet hard enough.

Lastly, the trending topic dimming and removal. One name, you will understand why I need this, &ldquot;Justin Bieber&rdquot;.

5   It’s still new!

I tried to test as best as I can and I was developing on Chromium 6.0.401.1, you might encounter a problem. Tweet @lyjl.

6   Want more?

Even I have already all things I need, but I still have some ideas in to-do list. If you have any good ideas, just drop me a line here or use two links above!

If you want to help develop, it’s licensed under the BSD, go grab it, then let’s make it better!