Photos: Twitter's makeover - a tour of the new features

Streamlined look ready for launch...

Twitter on Thursday announced a major redesign that revamps some of its biggest features and includes new apps for iOS and Android, in a bold attempt to make itself more relevant - not to mention more attractive to advertisers.

The main idea behind the redesign is to change how users access their most important tweets and the most significant information they convey. For instance, Twitter has decided to link its service to the notion of 'Home', and to try to rebrand the hashtag - one of its users' most ingenious inventions - as the "discover" tool.

At the same time, Twitter is launching its first branding pages in an attempt to steal some of Facebook's thunder with advertisers.

With the moves announced yesterday, Twitter is making it clear that it wants users' experiences to be the same, regardless of where they access 'Home'. That means that users should be able to see all the same information, via Home, on their computer or their mobile device - iPhone or Android. Twitter said that it will be rolling out the changes to its website over "the next few weeks," although it appears some users are already seeing them, but that users of its new mobile apps will see the redesign immediately.

The Twitter redesign was announced at Twitter.com - as pictured above - with descriptions of each element of the revamped interface.

Along with the latest tweets, Twitter now has sections on the left showing recommendations for who to follow, current Twitter trends, and other information.

New buttons at the top left of the Connect screen let you sort by other users who have mentioned you and by Interactions, which shows newly-added followers of your feed.

The new Discover section gives you several handy tools for viewing the hottest stories on Twitter and your friends' Twitter activity, a place to browse news categories, and more.

The new profile section offers a much more streamlined way for other users to explore your Twitter activity, view your followers, see your favorites, and find other info, all from the left navigation area.

Users can compose tweets, add photos, link to videos and web pages, mark your location and more using the Tweet button at the top right of the web interface.

Users can tap the icons to browse through Twitter content. The redesigned and simplified Home screen shows the latest tweets from people you follow. (These mobile screenshots show the Android version of Twitter on the left and the iPhone version on the right).

The Connect screen now has buttons for both interactions and mentions so you can follow conversations and see who has recently followed you. (Android on left, iPhone on right).

The Discover screen offers up top stories trending right now, or you can enter a hashtag or search term to find what interests you. (Android on left, iPhone on right).

The Me, or Profile, screen lets you view your stats and browse direct messages, drafts, lists, and saved searches. (Android on left, iPhone on right).

Users can hit the compose button in the upper right of the interface to send out a message to the world. (Android on left, iPhone on right).