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My offer to Google Reader

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Re: My offer to Google Reader

#51

Post by gord »

Why not just launch a startup and build a superb reader that solves the problem and looks nice?

Wouldn't it be better to have the freedom to implement your own version of what the ultimate Reader is, especially in newer tech [ websockets, node.js, realtime updates, drag to rearrange widgets .. whatever ]

Id love someone to make a nice reader [and a nice mail groups] web app, Id enjoy working on these myself. It must be more efficient to build these things outside of Google, as a startup.

An RSS reader with nice UI, realtime update, location sensitivity, smart filters, and unobtrusive social features .. you had me at RSS :]

Re: My offer to Google Reader

#52

Post by rsanchez1 »

Is it really so bad? I would never even have noticed: I use Google Reader exclusively through client apps on my phone and tablet. I would never have noticed because these apps function today the same they did last week, last month, even last year. Pick a client app you like and stick with it. If it's made by a good developer the app will keep up with API changes. It could only break if Google decides it doesn't want to allow unofficial access to the Reader API anymore and doesn't provide an official API.

Re: My offer to Google Reader

#53

Post by watmough »

Someone at Google needs to get a Goddamn clue and look at a UI design manual.

What the hell are they thinking?

Has Larry let the MBAs get out of control? There's clearly something wrong, as no sensible, actual user of these products surely could believe that this mess is an improvement?

This is on a par with the del.icio.us mess.

Re: My offer to Google Reader

#54

Post by kfury »

dorian-graph wrote: post #15

Problem? Perhaps for this fellow and some others. They might might not be aware there are those who don't care for the social side of Google Reader and use it as a place to keep RSS feeds in sync.

Actually, I only made light use of Reader's social features. Aside from their absence (which I do think is a shame) the visual changes to the more newsreader aspects of Reader severely impact the product, and are a big part of what I want to repair.

Re: My offer to Google Reader

#55

Post by rmccue »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #23
ianterrell wrote: post #3

Dear God in Heaven please let them take him up on it. Now that I'm a few days into the new redesign my workflow has become 1. Read RSS feeds. 2. Research RSS feed readers.

Me too, I am definitely in the market for a new RSS reader now.

What are you looking for in a reader? I develop one called Lilina, which aims to be pluggable and themeable, so I'd love to know what sort of things I should be focusing on.

(If you'd like to check it out, http://getlilina.org/ )

Re: My offer to Google Reader

#56

Post by joebadmo »

confusedreader wrote: post #5

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't really understand the huge community backlash to the Reader rework. I spend hours in reader every day, and it wasn't until they added in G+ that it actually became easy to share.The addition made it so I could share within a community I was already involved in rather then a few people in some disconnected Reader community. From my perspective they actually removed the useless…

I agree that the backlash is partly just aversion to change, and partly the fact that we're in a usability canyon because of the transition, but that the integration with the G+ sharing model means a better, more granular future for sharing, which is good.

I wrote a whole post defending the change here: http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/12261287667/in-defense-of-the...

Regarding the visual design, I hope they'll take cues from the Gmail redesign, which hit a really great balance between clean whitespace-full minimalism and density configurability.

Re: My offer to Google Reader

#57

Post by conesus »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #16
confusedreader wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

24in Monitor. I could see how it might not scale down well, maybe they need to introduce the UI scaling features that Gmail has that might help with a lot of peoples issues. The userscripts I tried basically just removed a lot of margins and padding around content, so maybe those might suit you on a small display?

The lack of padding is what makes it really bad. Its now entirely too cluttered. I quit using Google Reader, and I'm trying NewsBlur although its far from perfect, its a clear step up.

What could be improved about NewsBlur?

Re: My offer to Google Reader

#58

Post by adrianwaj »

My only tip would be to make standard this plugin, make it look right, and have it remember its settings on a feed-per-feed basis: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/khbjahpecnkenngkid... (Super Full Feeds)

note - the Chrome Web Store has also taken a usability hit, in my view. YouTube was done fairly well, and I think that team should be moved across to do other products, or train other teams about what and how to do things.

Re: My offer to Google Reader

#59

Post by dylangs1030 »

cavalcade wrote: post #7

Wow this is a bit naive and egotistical. I HATE the new google reader but to think that it takes ONE man outside of Google to fix their product is downright silly. The redesign was made in the context of Google's near-future plans to ignore that is ridiculous. A more constructive move is to provide a short checklist of things to re-consider or build/recommend a competing product. Its not like Google cant improve it m…

Figure it this way: instead of Kevin Fox being pretentious, he's making a public statement. Could he have sent Google a professional email? Yes (and I suspect he did, actually). More importantly, he is making a public statement as an ex-Googler, and thus as an authority on Google engineering, that sympathizes with the negative feedback from the user base. If the users are not sending a powerful enough message, here is an ex-employee (who left on good terms, as far as we know, and was very good at what he did) giving a personal declaration to the company. That it is public shows his confidence, and that he feels (correctly) that many are dissatisfied with the recent change. And from the perspective of a large company like Google, this is not just some uninformed group griping for no reason, this is a real issue. Kevin Fox isn't attempting to be arrogant, he's giving legitimacy to an issue that may otherwise be overlooked in a classic case of a large company missing the demands of its user base.
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