Introducing ChromeDeck - Your Shiny New Friend

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Monday, 6 December 2010

For a long time we have had an ambition to create a web-based version of TweetDeck, but only if we could make it totally awesome. We wanted a full-blown TweetDeck experience that brings the power and feature set of the desktop client but in a really cool web framework.

We are thrilled to announce that today, with the launch of the brand new Google Web Store, we are starting to realise that ambition. Users of Google’s Chrome web browser can now visit the Google Web Store and download a brand-new, built-from-scratch, Chrome-specific TweetDeck app. And of course, it’s totally free!

Chrome TweetDeck, or “ChromeDeck” as we have dubbed it, is a huge step forward in terms of design and flexibility.  We have taken some of the best aspects of our award-winning desktop client and melded them with the best design and features from our hugely successful Android app, to make a state-of-the-art app web app, built on technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript, that marks the beginning of a new phase for TweetDeck. 

This initial version of ChromeDeck, though not yet as fully-featured as the current desktop client, is the start of an exciting new venture for us and we really hope you love it. Updates will be coming rapidly, and our aim is to bring the the best features from all our other apps into ChromeDeck as quickly as possible.

Having said that, ChromeDeck is clearly not a direct replacement for our existing Desktop TweetDeck. We have millions of people using that and we are naturally continuing support and development of that platform, just as we have before. But thanks to the great flexibility of a web app, we will be adding most of our cool features and new innovations into ChromeDeck first. Where possible we will then look to build them into the desktop client later, but ChromeDeck is always going to be at the cutting edge.

As always, we want to hear your thoughts and ideas about ChromeDeck, so please let us know what you think. We have dedicated forums for Chrome TweetDeck on our Support site, plus you can contact our new @chromedeck Twitter account. This account will also be the best place to keep up to date with the latest news about ChromeDeck developments, so we recommend following straight away!

And don’t worry, if you don’t, or can’t, run Google Chrome. We’ll soon be working on similar web apps that will run in Firefox and Safari, so look out for those coming in 2011.

So, if you’re an eager beaver and you want to dive straight in, skip down to our quick Getting Started guide below.

For the rest of you, let’s take a look at some of the really cool features that ChromeDeck boasts.

Combined Columns

You may have seen them in our Android app, but now, for the first time, they are available outside a mobile client. ChromeDeck allows you to add three types of combined columns:

- Home: All the updates from all your friends across all networks

- Me: All updates, notifications, comments etc that are to, or about, you

- inbox: A blend of all Twitter Direct Messages from all your accounts

Combined_columns

 

Inline reply

Focus on the conversation when replying with the new inline reply & conversation view, 

Inline_reply

Inline images

For most updates containing picture links, the images will be displayed inline in your columns, no need to click for a preview.

Inline_images

 

Big, clear compose window

The all-important compose window is big and clear and ever-present at the top of the screen. large icons make it easy to see the account