Dave Lemen

I'm liking the Google Reader!

The Google Reader team announced a redesign this past week, and I've been using it heavily since. What a difference! I had played around with Google Reader when it first launched, but found the interface awkward. It was certainly useful if you liked your new items strung together in a long, mixed-up stream, but it just didn't feel right, and I continued to use RSS Bandit instead.

Not that RSS Bandit was optimal. First, it's a client-side tool, meaning that it can't keep track of feeds I've read on another computer. It also requires installing software, keeping it up-to-date, wrestling with proxy settings, etc. Oh, and still to this day, it scrambles my feeds for no apparent reason.

I tried to make the most of Bloglines to get around the limitations of a local client, but never grew to like it.

What do I like about the Google Reader changes? Here are my favorite features:

• It's easy to switch between a number of views (by-feed, by-tag, all-new-entries, headlines-only, expanded-entries, etc.).
• The keyboard shortcuts simply rock! Hit g then t, to go to feeds with a particular tag. Looking at an entry, just click v to follow the link to the original entry. And if you use vi, j and k do what you'd expect. There's a whole list of shortcuts, handily displayed on the home page.
• Feeds are organized by tag, instead of by folder. Unfortunately, the UI is inconsistent in using these terms. For example, when managing your subscriptions, you're prompted to "add a label" using one dropdown, and "change folders..." in another. Then in other places it talks about "tags."
• You don't have to click through to the original entry link or explicitly mark something as read. The reader marks it read as you scroll past it in the reader.

Unless I stumble across any unpleasant surprises, I think I'll be sending the Bandito into retirement.