ModernDeck takes Twitter to better heights.
jason evangelho
Today is my 15th anniversary on Twitter, so it feels like the perfect opportunity to shed light on a great open-source app that elevates your Twitter experience to the heights even TweetDeck is capable of. It also filters out excess junk, such as annoying new NFT accounts.
As you may know, I’ve been challenging myself to use the Steam Deck as my only PC, and so far it’s been a moderately successful experiment. I’ve hosted, recorded and edited a 2 hour video chat on this thing. I’ve Also Used Valve’s Chunky Linux Handheld To Game At 1080p together Using OBS Studio to livestream at 720p/60.
This new journey also means I’m living a software diet full of flatpacks and a whole lot of open-source goodness, which is how I stumbled upon ModernDeck.
As someone who spends an excessive amount of time on Twitter with more than one account, I’m not a fan of the typical, default Twitter web experience. That’s why I’ve fallen in love with ModernDeck, an open-source Electron app built on top of TweetDeck for a more powerful, more customizable Twitter experience.
One of the many advantages of ModernDeck is that it is multi-platform, available on Linux, Windows and macOS. It is also an extension that you can add to your Firefox, Chrome and Edge browsers. The Github page has instructions on building it from source for various platforms, but there are several installers to choose from on ModernDeck (including one for the Apple Silicon Mac).
Options and Customization
I’m a sucker for options. I love having them, and I love using them. This is one area where ModernDeck only crushes TweetDeck: You have enough flexibility over your Twitter experience.
With TweetDeck, you are given basic control over content and appearance. But open ModernDeck’s settings panel and you can swap between 5 themes, a dozen accent colors, and a handful of fonts. In addition, you can dial in the exact dimensions you want for the column size, font size, and profile photo size. If that’s not enough, tailor it to your exact liking with custom CSS that can be easily reset to the default if something goes wrong.
TweetDeck (left) vs. ModernDeck (right)
jason evangelho
One thing I particularly appreciate is the ability to blur your Direct Message columns until you hover over them. This is an ideal choice for those who prefer to keep private in a public environment, and especially for those working with a mix of personal and business accounts.
Delete those NFT accounts
Recently there has been an influx of NFT-focused accounts with unusual avatars. have you seen them? They literally use the non-fungible token as their Twitter profile picture. It looks like they are randomly following me, possibly because they want to spam me with NFT “opportunities” later. If you don’t want these to appear anywhere near your timeline, ModernDeck has an extra special filter for you. Go into the “Tweets” tab, and auto-block them.
Block those annoying new NFT accounts with a single action.
jason evangelho
Importantly, it will not block or mute All NFT content from your stream, but it will filter out users who have linked their NFTs to their Twitter account. Want to effortlessly block anything remotely related to NFTs? The “Mute” tab has you covered.
On the surface, ModernDeck offers the same overall experience that you get with TweetDeck. It has the same powerful column filtering and overall feel that forces me to dedicate an entire screen to it always. But then ModernDeck took it up a notch with some thoughtful changes to the formula like advanced customization and privacy options.
This is one of those apps I wish I had discovered years ago. I have a hunch that you will feel the same after using it.
