What is Halfwit?
Halfwit is a Windows client for Twitter. It has a minimalist user interface because it doesn't have many features.
Well, what features does it have?
Along with some of the standard things you'd expect in a Twitter client (post a tweet, read direct messages etc), Halfwit has a few little usability features:
Smart Retweeting
When retweeting an interesting tweet, Halfwit will use Twitter's "native" retweet feature unless you modify (or add to) the original text.
URL Shortening
Initially just using http://is.gd, Halfwit lets you selectively shorten any URLs you've typed into a tweet, or shorten them all with a single keystroke or click. Don't want the short version? That's ok. Press Ctrl+Z and undo your change.
Unicode Emoticons
Include smileys or other symbols in your tweet easily with a handy list of common "emoticons". They only use one character!
Font Scaling
The primary reason I created Halfwit was that my favourite Twitter clients just didn't give me the control over the font size that I wanted. Halfwit lets you adjust the font size via a slider on the Options page.
Conversation Tracking
If you see an "in reply to" link, you can click on it, and Halfwit will take you to the original tweet. If it's not already in your timeline, Halfwit will retrieve it and insert it. You can use the Backspace key to navigate backwards through a conversation this way.
Keyboard Control
I'm a keyboard junkie, and love being able to control all my apps without reaching for the mouse. Halfwit includes lots of keyboard shortcuts, so keyboard nuts like me will feel right at home.
Where do I get it?
Halfwit 2 is currently in public beta. Download it from here, and be sure to check out the plug-ins page! It requires the .NET framework 4 Client Profile, which will be downloaded and installed if you don't already have it.
If you want to check out the source code, check out the BitBucket project site.
