LA based has Zugara built a site, freetwitterdesigner.com, that allows users to create custom Twitter backgrounds. Utilizing stock designs as well as customizable templates and an image uploading tool, users can personalize their pages.

Zugura's project represents another tiny step in the long staircase leading to whatever Nirvana lay beyond the cloud of Twitter's uncertain future. Designers and programmers alike are creating free tools that when added together form a ThunderCat-like beast — each performing a function in bringing the social-media savvy together.

AgencySpy's Twitter page has a custom design, but it was implemented more for the people who visit the page than for us. Frankly, we rarely visit twitter.com/agencyspy because we use Twhirl — a desktop application is much easier to manage than a Web page. For one thing, there's no refreshing required, no converting URLs etc. As LeVar Burton used to say, "don't take our word for it."