14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter has paid more attention to the site in recent months. It unveiled a massive redesign a year ago that turned Twitter more into an app than a website. Now, it's expanding, literally, on that concept with a new timeline in testing that enables you to see a full conversation around a tweet, or media in a tweet inline.
Pinglio noticed the new timeline first, but other Twitter users have confirmed seeing the testing version as well.
There are a few changes, all related to the fact that the timeline can now include more than just your incoming tweets.
For example, if a conversation develops from a tweet, you'll be able to see all of the back and forth replies right there in your regular timeline. That's a time saver and something that could have been included a long time ago.
Of course, you can follow a conversation like this in the side panel as well, the change is that Twitter has started using the timeline rather than the second panel.
The same idea is applied to media, images or videos attached to a tweet are now visible in the timeline, if you choose to expand that tweet, rather than in the side panel.
The same goes for the retweet section and other features. The UI has been tweaked for the changes and there are cues to help you single out tweets or conversations in the timeline when you 'open' them.
The result of all this is that the sidebar always remains clear, containing your tweeting stats, follower numbers, trending topics and so on. The big question is why is Twitter trying to do this.
A major part of last year's major redesigned was the use of the sidebar to expand tweets. Perhaps Twitter is trying to simplify things by having everything in one place. Or perhaps it has bigger plans for the sidebar. Of course, this could just be a test and Twitter may end up abandoning the idea.
