What RSS reader do you use, and what does it lack?

#1

Post by icebraining » Sun, Jul 10, 2011, 8:17 PM UTC

I'm planning on writing an RSS reader, as a learning experience and as a way to improve my user experience.

I'm interested in knowing what do you use, and what could be improved.

If you don't use one, why not? And what do you use for aggregation of content, if anything?

Re: What RSS reader do you use, and what does it lack?

#2

Post by mike-cardwell » Sun, Jul 10, 2011, 8:28 PM UTC

RSS2Email with a Sieve filter to move the messages into their own folder. I use various IMAP clients to read my feeds, including Thunderbird on my laptop, Mutt on my Linux box, Roundcube when I need Webmail and K-9 on my phone.

The only problem with it is RSS2Email sometimes sends duplicate messages for some reason. It also doesn't offer the capability to filter messages out of the feed. If I need to do anything like that I just bounce through Yahoo Pipes.

Re: What RSS reader do you use, and what does it lack?

#3

Post by davidedicillo » Sun, Jul 10, 2011, 8:29 PM UTC

I either use Google Reader or Reeder (on iPad, iPhone and OSX)

Re: What RSS reader do you use, and what does it lack?

#4

Post by p4bl0 » Sun, Jul 10, 2011, 8:35 PM UTC

Google Reader is the better feed reader I could find in both desktop and web categories. I like the sharing features, the only thing wrong is that it's not free software and not hosted on my server. I tried some GReader-like software but it was not as good, in particular regarding the keyboard-driven aspect.

Re: What RSS reader do you use, and what does it lack?

#5

Post by cmer » Sun, Jul 10, 2011, 8:36 PM UTC

Stopped using an RSS reader a long time ago because I just couldn't keep up with all the content. Too many unreads, too much noise, got sick of it and figured I'd get the good stuff through Twitter or HN if it was really important.

If you're building an RSS reader, I suggest you build one that filters out all the garbage and only shows me what I should really read. I honestly don't think we need "yet another RSS reader". Having some sort of algo to rank the content could be a good way to differentiate yourself.

Re: What RSS reader do you use, and what does it lack?

#6

Post by WalterSear » Sun, Jul 10, 2011, 8:37 PM UTC

Google reader. - Integration with my other resource gathering (ie - bookmarks) and starred item management - a way to automatically categorize duplicate stories so I only read about a particular piece of news once, even if every blogger on the web is writing about it.

Re: What RSS reader do you use, and what does it lack?

#7

Post by nigham » Sun, Jul 10, 2011, 8:39 PM UTC

I think the biggest problem in RSS is not so much the readers but the slowly declining discoverability of RSS.

Re: What RSS reader do you use, and what does it lack?

#8

Post by theguvernor » Sun, Jul 10, 2011, 8:46 PM UTC

NetNewsWire (Mac) is what I use. I've tried quite a few and really like it. I don't think it's lacking much.

Re: What RSS reader do you use, and what does it lack?

#9

Post by hvass » Sun, Jul 10, 2011, 8:48 PM UTC

OMEA Reader for me. Never liked Google reader.

Re: What RSS reader do you use, and what does it lack?

#10

Post by wanderr » Sun, Jul 10, 2011, 8:55 PM UTC

Thunderbird for feeds I want to see updates from eventually but don't care when, each feed goes into a separate folder and I just check them when I have time. Biggest problem is when something changes in the feed format or something, and it re-downloads all messages.

Livejournal for feeds I'd like to see the day they are updated. Biggest complaint is sometimes it's super laggy and won't update for a few days, then spam feed with all updates.