Web designer from Argentina realigns new Twitter.
rodrigogalindez.com
rodrigogalindez.com
Here: http://www.fileability.net/snaps/twitteruneven.png
Same colored arrows point to spaces that should have the same size, because they represent the same thing.
The problem with grids is that they're a blunt instrument. You still need to use common sense. There's no conceivable reason why the "Home" button in the top bar should align to the second panel. That would seem to imply that the Home button does something to the second panel, when in fact it controls both.
2) He changed the background color lighter to show more contrast on the blur, even though bg colors are customizable in twitter, thus creating an unfair comparison.
3) Top black bar items not aligning with the grid may have been intentional. It's not part of the layout but intended to be a separate object that is part of the view port. I'm sure it was intended to seem like the bar was an extension of the browser, not part of the web site. In this way, it does not distract from reading.
4) His contrast with background colors on the "tweet box" area, the feed, and the right side was done poorly, completely breaking the concept of main vs sub content on left and right. The original background colors are much better in clearly segregating left from right, and devaluing content on the right.
Designers forget (esp those with print backgrounds), UX is not simply about making things look pretty, but also being able to trigger an emotional response and create a connection with the end user.
Ironically, Doug Bowman's latest post on StopDesign talks about the Uncanny Valley. This theory applies here too. Rodrigo's design looks way too much like a static blog, and makes me feel uncomfortable.
Although aesthetically pleasing at first sight, this guy still has a lot to learn from Doug Bowman.
His design honestly looks like a Wordpress Blog theme, not Twitter.
I know UX people like to claim they are responsible for the user experience but this is really not true unless they are able to actually visually design the site too as the visual part is the primary emotional trigger.
This is why all UX people should be able to design.
The problem with his twitter redesign isn't about the emotional response but simply about the information design. It's badly done and reduces the ability to scan the page.
But other than that I agree completely.
That said I agree with the rest of your critique...
My browser window is nearly always about 700px wide – that’s half of my screen. Two-finger scrolling makes vertical scrollbars just as easy to use as horizontal scrollbars but 1000px wide designs are not optimized for 700px wide windows [+].
I certainly don‘t want websites to start using 700px wide layouts. I would, however, love to see more websites that change their layouts depending on the width of the browser. Twitter could drop one column if needed. Many browsers already make such changes easy and it is just as easy to force the common denominator layout on older browsers. That would be completely in line with progressive enhancement.
[+] To all the web designers out there: I can understand that it is not exactly your priority to make it easy for someone who like 700px wide browser windows to use the website you are designing. But could you please at least test whether everything still works even when the browser window is that narrow? I really should always be able to scroll to any button and backgrounds shouldn’t disappear.
While developing alternative display modes for non-standard resolutions is certainly possible, it unquestionably increases the time and expense of design, development and testing for what is arguably a negligible gains in terms of the percentage of users you're serving.
It‘s just that many, many websites are being optimized for low resolutions on mobile devices anyway. It would be great if that work could be repurposed for the desktop.
IMHO Rodrigo's design does better on contrast & rythm but there's a disconnection between related elements which can cause confusion. If I had to solve that I should try using a light background to enclose items that belong one with another.
I think that, regardless of the results I find this kind of exercise very useful. It's very hard for someone living in Argentina (or anywhere outside SF or NY) to be commissioned with a work of this caliber, so it's very ratifying to think "Could I do it better?" even if the answer is "No, I can't"
On a related note, is good to see Bowman work again after disappearing that many years inside Google.