In today's article we are going to talk about a new Twitter client created with Electron. This is one of the most widely used development frameworks for creating desktop applications. This framework allows developing applications in a more or less simple way for different platforms.
Desktop applications for social networks are one of the most demanded by users. For this reason, the efforts of developers are focused on creating desktop clients for different operating systems. In this article we are going to take a look at chirp. It is a desktop client for Linux for the social network Twitter.
When installed, many will find that Chirp relies on Twitter Lite as a base to work. For those who do not know, it must be said that Twitter Lite is a PWA (Progressive Web App). These App work like a normal application on our computers. This is why Chirp offers us a convenient way to seamlessly use Twitter Lite on the desktop.
All the progressive web applications (PWA) they load instantly, work over uneven network connections, and support push notifications. It also provides users with fluid interactions and smooth animations.
In this case the Chirp application is a light version of Twitter which is updated in real time. It also allows us to enjoy push notifications from the social network.
The chirpily, named Chirp is a simple Twitter Electron client for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Although it is superficially similar to Anatine. This was an Electron application for Twitter that is no longer being developed and that forced users who used it to migrate to something similar.
Unlike Anatine, Chirp does not support keyboard shortcuts to activate Twitter features such as retweet, new tweet, attach images, or create polls.
It has some basic editing options (eg copy, paste, undo, etc) and there is an option to "always toggle on top" which can be useful. Web links and images are displayed in a modal window. This prevents us from opening a new tab in the web browser, which is always welcome.
In the program interface we are going to find the basic options. These can be accessed from the icons in the top menu. There we will find the options of our time line, search (where we can see the trends of the moment), the list of notifications and private messages.
If we click on the nut that we will find in the upper right part, we will be able to access the client's configuration. This setup is going to be pretty basic.
Download Chirp, an Electron client for Twitter
Web download Chirp
The end result is acceptable and really meets what the developers they were looking for say: an application that has the same functionality as one dedicated to mobile devices that can be download for free from the next link.
From the outset, it must be said that it seems a good alternative if we want to use Twitter without the need to open a web browser. It is true that it has some limitations, but in its favor we find that it is a development multi platform. If you are fond of this social network, you can download the latest version of Chirp for Windows, macOS and Linux from the project website.
From my point of view this is a good application that meets the expectations that the user can expect from a basic Twitter client. We must always keep in mind at all times what type of app we are going to find. If you don't use Twitter and / or don't like applications developed with Electron, Chirp is not for you. Nobody expect a complicated application or a complex client like the one you can offer us French , Turpial or Hotot.
The version for Linux provides us with a binary, which we must extract from the .zip file. To launch the application you just have to double click on 'Chirp' and it will open on the screen. It should be noted that only available for 64 bit.