Browser Add-ons, Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Twitter, TwitterBar

TwitterBar updated with OAuth, shorter URLs

Update: TwitterBar for Firefox was sold to HootSuite and renamed HootBar in March of 2011. TwitterBar for Chrome was discontinued in October of 2012.

Everyone’s favorite tool for posting to Twitter from your Firefox address bar (TwitterBar) has been updated to version 2.0. Changes in this version include:

  • URL shortening
    • Long URLs are now shortened by http://is.gd/ before being sent to Twitter. is.gd offers the shortest URLs around, so you have more room in your tweet for your words. (TwitterBar’s character counter takes into account the fact that all of your URLs will only be 18 characters long when they’re posted, so you always know exactly how much room you have left to tweet.)
  • Support for OAuth.
    • OAuth is basically a way to allow applications (like TwitterBar) to act on your behalf (update your status) without having to disclose your Twitter password to the application. So it’s safer for you, since you don’t have to worry about malicious programmers stealing your usernames and passwords, since you never gave them out. After you upgrade to this version of TwitterBar, you’ll have to authorize it once, but then you’ll never have to do it again.
  • Bug fixes and code cleanup
    • These are good!

You can download TwitterBar from Mozilla Add-ons (for free!), or you can wait for Firefox to automatically notify you of the update.

Standard

12 comments on “TwitterBar updated with OAuth, shorter URLs

  1. 2.0 is broken. When you use more than one computer, the authorization is forgotten and the plugin becomes useless because you have to reauthorize all the time.

  2. limeonaire says:

    Hi there – just wanted to tell you, I’m pretty disappointed with this most recent update, for several reasons:

    1. I don’t _want_ the program to use OAuth to authorize TwitterBar to post to my account, as that makes it so anyone could post as me from my browser. That’s more of a problem, to me, than the small chance that someone might eavesdrop on my connection as I’m inputting my username/password.

    2. I greatly preferred the old icon, which was tiny and didn’t advertise its connection to Twitter. The way it is now, I can’t use this, because I can’t have the Twitter icon in my address bar all the time.

    3. I don’t _want_ all my URLs shortened by is.gd. There needs to be some way to enable/disable that, or choose my own URL shortener of choice. I don’t want the tiniest URL possible; I want to be able to choose which shortener to use.

    Thanks for your consideration.

  3. Wishlist:

    1. Bring back the green dot. At some future point you might want to let me microblog to other sites.

    2. I really like bit.ly and use their stats. I’ve seen services that log in as me to bit.ly so my links are part of my profile there.

    On the bug front…

    I just had a problem with TwitterBar and OAuth; the process launched well and i approved it and it said to continue, but it didn’t take and asked me to go through authorization again. repeatedly. on different tabs. on the same tab. no joy.

    Thanks for the great tool and enjoy your partenthood!

  4. Trevor says:

    Congrats on the baby!

    W/regards to Twitterbar: I’ve got it installed on two computers, same account (laptop, desktop), and they’re both trying to re-authorize everytime I try to post something from either of them. If I do desk-desk, I’ll get 2 auth requests. Will check outcome from post / auth / shutdown moz / post sometime tomorrow.

  5. Hi Chris,

    Same for me, everything is broke because I use this on two computers (if the comment above is correct) it keeps asking for authorisation anyhow.

    Gah!

    I use it a lot so a roll back would e good. Can i do that?

    Thanks for the good work.

    all the best Dave

  6. Be lovely if the application worked with the portable version of Firefox. Seems intent reinstalling itself. Using portable version from portableapps.com

  7. I agree with the commenters above who would prefer not to be automatically authorized. I have 2 twitter accounts, and depending on the URL, I want to be able to post things to one vs. the other. The previous version of twitterbar prompted me for my twitter account info each time I posted something, so I could always choose either of my twitter accounts.

  8. Joe says:

    i accidentally unauthorized my twitterbar and can’t reauthorize it. how can i? TwitterBar encountered an error while authenticating with Twitter:

    TypeError: parts[1] is undefined

    keeps popping up when i try to post. why won’t it post.

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