Trying Out New Feed Readers
January 17th, 2007 by Sophie WegatIf I’m honest I wouldn’t even be blogging if it wasn’t for my good friend Peter taking the time to explain over the phone how to set-up RSS feeds in a Feed Reader - Bloglines. I’ve used Bloglines ever since and have been ever grateful to him as it changed the way I worked and viewed the web.
Some years on Peter started a thread: Moving From Bloglines To Google Reader and I decided this time I’d get with the program and give something else a go. Enter Google Reader and I’m actually impressed. It took a while to get used to and I was tempted to go back to Bloglines but now I’m thinking I may stick with it for a while.
What I like:
- I could easily import my feeds from Bloglines meaning I didn’t have to start again.
- The folder system is easier to use than Bloglines so I feel better able to manage all my subscriptions.
- I like the Ajax interface better than the old antiquated frames of Bloglines.
What I’d like to see:
- A better way to mark posts read. You can mark a whole feed read but you have to remember to do this. Maybe as I get used to Google Reader this will come more naturally.
- New posts opening in the same window as the previous post - although I may just not have found this yet.
What I do find interesting is Google Reader makes it much easier for the reader to read in the reader and not visit your blog/website. With Bloglines I always displayed just the summary and clicked onto the site if a post interested me. This has changed the way I think about my own blog and how it is viewed.
Since then the lovely Peter has written an update: List of Popular Feed Readers *sigh*. I really don’t have time to try them all so will rely on feedback and maybe just test a few.
So what Feed Reader are you using? Why?
January 17th, 2007
1:42 pm
I’m using bloglines, but the easy import feature in Google Reader makes the idea of trying it out attractive. You and Peter both have be thinking about it.
January 17th, 2007
1:45 pm
Bill, that reply was super fast! It’s so easy to set up you can try it and revert back easily if you don’t like it. The import feature is definitely attractive - I’m not sure I would have bothered if I had to start again. And I imagine I have far less blogs listed than you.
January 17th, 2007
1:53 pm
One other thing - I’ve not seen, as yet, how to see how many subscribers a blog has…
January 17th, 2007
2:13 pm
Your reply to my post was pretty fast, too. Startled me.
I guess that you’re not really pulling the feeds out of Bloglines, so a head-to-head comparison is possible. Might be a fun diversion to test out over the weekend.
I do like being able to see subscription numbers when I’m adding a blog in bloglines. It’s a small detail, but it’s often the small details that make a difference between similar services.
January 17th, 2007
2:20 pm
I worked out a few things - which I posted at Peter’s blog as that where we were initially discussing it. It’s definitely worth a try Bill. Subscription numbers would be nice though - I’ve not found that yet. Even when subscribing to a new blog I can’t see this…
January 30th, 2007
2:12 pm
[...] About two weeks ago I decided to try Google Reader after a blog post from my friend Peter. The results are in - I love it! It’s much easier to manage and organise and I love the trends. It has a few things I don’t like but nothing so dramatic that I’d go back to Bloglines. [...]
August 18th, 2008
6:24 pm
[...] two weeks ago I decided to try Google Reader after a blog post from my friend Peter. The results are in - I love it! It’s much easier to [...]