Note: If you’re seeing URLs that have become unclickable, read “Why so many URLs suddenly became unclickable on Twitter.”
But if you’re having other kinds of problems making Twitter.com work properly now, here’s what you can do:
A Quick Solution That Usually Works:
Clear your browser cache when you’re having problems (see http://bit.ly/FixBrowser —can be done in a single “Ctrl-F5″ keystroke on most computers) or logout and log back in. You might also want to clear your cookies. If you’re using a mobile app, delete and reinstall. For Blackberry, see http://bit.ly/FixMyBB.)
Here’s a typical complaint that this can often fix:
The downside is that you may have to clear cache (I do it by clicking “Ctrl-F5″ on my keyboard) most of the time you use New Twitter 
More Detail For Tough Problems:
New Twitter is a much more complex interface than old Twitter. If you use browser plugins, particularly if they integrate with Twitter.com, things get more complex still.
So Twitter.com now freezes, or fails to show things in the sidebar normally, or can even sometimes show you nothing but a blank page.
It won’t work at all unless you have javascript enabled, and may also fail completely unless you are using the latest version of your browser. Twitter advises that if you have serious problems, you should try these steps first:
- Clear your cache and cookies.
- Make sure javascript is enabled on your browser.
- Disable, turn off or uninstall all add-ons, scripts or plugins (how to do this on Internet Explorer or Firefox).
- Refresh the page
- Try using https://www.twitter.com instead of http://www.twitter.com
What About the New Mobile Twitter?
Twitter also recently updated m.twitter.com / mobile.twitter.com, and people are reporting problems there as well. For example, sometimes a link is not shown fully enough, and therefore doesn’t take you to the correct site/can’t be clicked. I’m looking into the situation, and will update as I know more.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
new twitter doesnt work. I tried the cache and cookies thing. mostly blank page.i.e. my wallpaper photo and home/connect/discover bar.
I hate that “discover” -lame, patronising like its for 5 year olds. It just is what it is… doesnt need embellishments. Maybe the “tweet” button should be changed to “Blast off!” See, now Im being OTT too.
lol! to the “Blast off!” idea. Unfortunately, new Twitter has been dumbed down. Twitter’s found their biggest problem was that people didn’t know how to use the website or the apps, so they bit the bullet and simplified everything, and made all the interfaces they control more similar to one another.
For us old hands, it can be time to find other interfaces (like HootSuite or MarketMeSuite if you like dashboards) to restore more functionality to our Twitter interface.
I also do not like new twitter. I can not find who I want to follow because when I type something in nothing happens other than I get a blank page.
Try http://bit.ly/QuickTwitterFix
I cleared the cache & cookies but my background still won’t change. I can’t even get a preview of my wanted background. My timeline hasn’t loaded properly in a couple of weeks & Twitter freezes also. It’s making me want to just forget the whole thing!
Unfortunately, Twitter had some background problems for a couple of days there
Twitter is showing all in coming and out going comments as “3 hours ago”. The dates are often wrong as well. Can you help? worldheroinc@aol.com
Thank you. Bonnie
When Twitter works on things, some features suffer http://bit.ly/TwitterDarkmode But try http://bit.ly/QuickTwitterFix
I am really fed up with the new Twitter it is slow… It does not allow me to tweet sometimes unless I refresh page after each tweet. I use to be able to talk in real time now I don’t see some of my tweets till the next day!!!!@@## So that makes my fellow tweeters think I am ignoring them. And all of my DM message are gone !!! can only see the last four people that DM me and if I click on that sometimes it does nothing .. And I never know when I have gotten a new DM they used to number the amount.. I HATE the new Twitter………….. @Soozi13
At the moment, due to an ongoing Twitter issue, an app like HootSuite might be your best bet. They seem to having less problems than Twitter.com
I’ve been using new Twitter for some time now without any problems or issues. I find it great and user friendly for the average “Tweeter” who uses it for what it was originally designed to do e.g. “what are you doing” and/or sharing “gossip”?
Currently, I have a minor problem with the date/time associated to tweets on my timeline (all tweets are stamped with a time of ‘one hour ago’ but I’m certain this can be resolved quickly.
New Twitter works for me!
Have fun, Frederick…
Hate it. Way too slow. Most obnoxious though is hourly limits placed on being on there. I have 1500 people wanting me to follow them back and I can’t do it with such tiny hourly limits. Pity they can’t just add servers rather than shut us down from using them. I may just quit using Twitter completely til they remove limits
Thanks for the kanvaso – had never seen it but it is almost the same as regular twitter. The new twitter no longer shows the @replies to me or the RT retweets or D direct messages – they had a tab but it is sorted by users so no way to find nee relies or RTs, And if you go to the retweet tab it shows which of your tweets have been RT but not by whom – so absolutely useless. And the need to clear the cache many times a day to see more th atjust the top black twitter menu. I keep open twirl and destroy twitter just to catch my message and RTs. Now I will use kanvaso instead – thanks If twitter intends for people to use its site so they see ads they should make it simple and work with all browsers – the change was stupid.
Another Twhirl user! I used to love that app. (It’s still good, I just don’t need it as much anymore.)
Well a lot of what the new Twitter is trying to achieve is scalability. Instead of continually sending a fresh set of HTML pages, you pull a lot of front-end rending data ahead of time (which gets cached) , and then the server just needs to send minimal data. This decreases how much data is sent between the client and the server, which increases how many requests can be handled.
In short: Server just sends data, client updates interface
Yeah, AJAX is a two-edged sword in this case. It’s unfortunate the browser problems are so serious, and affect so many people. Twitter clearly didn’t expect this much trouble on the client end.
The NEW TWITTER does not work if you have low vision and need to enlarge FONTS!
HUGE GRIPE ONE: No DM Count so I NEVER know when I get a new DM unless I check my email ( I do not use a smart phone, use Twitter from laptops only)
The NEW TW right side bar is too big and takes up too much space. So when I enlarge things well enough to read, it’s convoluted & bloody annoying & dizzying to scroll to the right side & see profiles and I can only see the last 3 tweets from people.
Plus that side gets a strobe like effect going if I mouse over it. So then I have to click on all tweets that makes it back on the left side.
New Twitter has added more steps, more clicks and is SLOWER in responding & in my time I spend here, and made things more convoluted…
and really dissed older aging eyes population.
This new interface, lags & is horrible in FF, Chrome (which is suddenly crashing w DNS errors on 3 puters in the house but I digress!) And Opera & IE don’t work for my New Twitter issues either.
Also NO DM COUNT is a pain. Did I mention that?
Thus I can’t use Tdeck or any other application as it does NOT allow you to enlarge fonts.
I am most disappointed in NEW TWITTER as are others and it will greatly cut down on my using it.
The old one was GREAT for me and was not broken.
It was indeed PUSHED on us before it was ready for Primetime.
I Detest FB and rarely use it and HATE their FORCED changes. Sad to see Twitter doing same thing even MORE since I use it so much.
Try Kanvaso, ChromeDeck or Seesmic Web. They are all browser-based.
I switched to Kanvaso the day New Twitter was forced on us. Apart from the server going
down that night, perhaps due to the sheer volume of sign-ups, I’ve never looked back.
Try it. It’s old Twitter with (sensible) bells on.
Re Mobile Twitter problems: I’ve had constant problems with mobile Twitter since they updated it. Often it simply won’t open: I just get an error message. On the days it does actually open, it inexplicably no longer shows anyone’s avatars in my timeline. It’s completely messed up and never functions properly anymore. I eventually gave up on it and simply refuse to use it now. I use other Twitter apps on my phone instead.
Sorry to hear that. Did you ever check with Twitter for a solution?
Boy, Twitter sure has a mess on their hands with this new interface. Why didn’t they make it work before they started forcing people to use it? If my landlord said
“We’re replacing your working oven with a broken one.”
…I’d think they were nuts. I mean, I’ve heard of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but “If it’s working, break it and force everyone to use it” is just BONKERS.
What was Twitter thinking?
It’s long been a trend with web developers to use newer technologies to do cool things with websites. Over time, many have admitted they got ahead of themselves and made things their clients couldn’t update, and their visitors couldn’t make work properly.
Unfortunately, it looks like Twitter has fallen into this well-known trap. The thinking seems to be that as browsers get better and better, and more people upgrade, fewer and fewer visitors will have problems, so why not do cool stuff? And besides, they think, we can probably fix most problems…eventually.
But I think once Twitter decided to “do cool stuff” they stopped thinking about all the problems they could be causing. They should have held back a little bit, because from all reports, new Twitter causes problems, small and large, for a HECK of a lot of people.
I’m soooo glad you wrote this! Much needed!!!
You’re very welcome, Kathy
I don’t mind too much having to click Ctrl-F5 a lot, but I do hope Twitter gets it working better one day so that won’t be necessary.
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