Hotot (program)

Hotot

A screenshot of Hotot 0.9.6 running under Ubuntu 11.04.
Developer(s)	Hotot team
Preview release	0.9.8.14 [1] / June 4, 2012
Development status	Discontinued[2]
Written in	Python
Operating system	Linux, Windows, OS X, Chromium[3]
Available in	English
Type	Social networking client
License	GPL version 3[4]
Website	http://hotot.org

Hotot is a micro-blogging desktop client for Twitter as well as Statusnet/GNUsocial, developed in Python as an open source application. Despite the fact that it is still in its early stages of development, as stated on the official website,^[3] it has succeeded to achieve the "Best Linux Twitter Client" in a poll published on WebUpd8.org against four Linux Twitter clients; namely Gwibber, Pino, Turpial, and Choqok with 1021 voters.^[5] Hotot is named after a French breed of domestic rabbit. On February 9, 2014 it was announced that the client is being discontinued.^[2]

Features^[6]

Multi/single column view

The program relies on a multi column customizable view perspective, in which the user can display the "time line" in one column and other commonly used functions, like "mentions"; "searches"; "profiles"; and "retweets", in separate columns listed all side by side. Also, the view can be minimized to single column view.

Color-coded Tweets

Tweets are colored depending on if they are sent by the user, contain user's mention, or usual timeline tweets using different colors.

Threaded Conversations

Used to expand the tweet thread to explore replies and reactions to the original tweet.

Hotot's Threaded Conversation.

Images Preview

Images included in tweets can be previewed in the timeline and are clickable to view them in their original hoster.

Content Filter/Kismet Content Firewall

These two components are used to filter, mask, or archive certain tweets based on sender and/or content.

Images Uploader

A built in image uploader is available using TwitPic, img.ly, and plixi.com.

Image hosters supported by Hotot's ImageUploader.

Url Shortener

Used to shorten long urls using service providing like TinyURL, Kamacracy, is.gd, v.gd, Bit.ly, and custom url shortener.

Geolocation View

To reveal location information like neighborhood, town, or exact point a tweet was sent from with "Tweet Location" enabled using Google Maps.

On spot Translation

Provides translation of selected tweets upon request using Google Translate within the timeline inside the application itself.

Hotot's on-spot translation plugin appearing in darker grey in English from German.

Read Later Integration

Using Instapaper or Pocket read-later service to save tweets for later check.

Others

Hotot provides multi-profile support, not simultaneously logged in though.^[7] In addition, the GUI is themable and fonts used can be changed. Also, HTTP proxy can be configured using the preferences menu.

Drawbacks

Until 0.9.6 Hotot doesn't provide spell checking functionality,^[8] which is available in many Linux Twitter clients like Gwibber, and Turpial. By default, the program is available only in English,^[9] but apparently progress is being made^[10] to provide a multilingual interface.

The program also appears to use excessive Twitter API requests in some circumstances, leading to the user hitting the request limit before their quota resets every hour.

See also

• Gwibber

References

1. "Hotot Tags". Retrieved 2013-06-01.
2. "This project has been discontinued". hotot.org. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
3. "Get Hotot". Retrieved 2011-08-24.
4. "Hotot @ Launchpad". Retrieved 2011-08-24.
5. "Best Linux Twitter Client". WebUp8.org. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
6. "Hotot Features". Hotot. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
7. "Hotot Twitter app adds multi-profile, identi.ca support in latest update". OMG Ubuntu!. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
8. "Hotot issue reporting; Issue 64: Spell Checking". Retrieved 2011-08-24.
9. "Hotot issue reporting; Issue 98: Multi-language".
10. "Hotot Translation status by language @ Launchpad".