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ZiNgA BuRgA · 20/03/2010 11:43 PM

Cause I've been looking for one.
Only ones I've really looked at are Sharp Reader and Thunderbird.  Feed Demon is apparently adware so I'm keeping away from that.
Unfortunately, neither really offer enough options for my liking.

Thunderbird, you cannot have different update periods for different feeds.  Also, it's "web" rendering seems a little overkill - I have some feeds which have an iframe, and TB loads them, which makes things really slow.
Sharp Reader does allow you to have different update intervals per feed, and also doesn't display the iframe, however it still retrieves images in feeds, and there's no option to disable that.  Also, very few controls over how it uses the systray.

So if you're using an RSS reader, what are you using and what would you suggest I try?

Thanks.

Mickey · 20/03/2010 11:47 PM

I use the FF default toolbar one

Silvertie · 20/03/2010 11:50 PM

Use firefox, if a page has an RSS feed, it has an icon you can click. It acts like a bookmark, only when you click it, it opens all the feed items in a new thingy.

Pic related, it's how I keep track of my RSS.

ZiNgA BuRgA · 21/03/2010 12:30 AM

Newz Crawler looks nice, but unfortunately, uses Mozilla or IE rendering engines, which still load the annoying iframe. At least it can disable images, scripts and Java.

Mc Cabe · 21/03/2010 12:30 AM

Must it be offline?

I would suggest Google reader.

I am actually developing one(-ish) for my computing project this year, would love to hear any more options you're looking for :)

ZiNgA BuRgA · 21/03/2010 12:40 AM

What's the point in an online reader when you can just go to the site?
I guess the only advantage is if you subscribe to lots of things - having a central place to go might make things easier.

It would be nice to have desktop integration - main thing I'm looking at over stuff like the Firefox RSS is the popup thing when there's a new item.

lembas · 21/03/2010 12:48 AM

lols, I use Google Reader. ;p

Mc Cabe · 21/03/2010 12:49 AM

Well what's the point of having a desktop one? Still requires the internet and when you're online, you tend to have a browser open, so visiting one website instead of 50 is just as good.

It is possible to make web applications offline compatible.

By the way by desktop integration, you mean it's own form or just in the systray or what?

ZiNgA BuRgA · 21/03/2010 01:02 AM

Mc Cabe Wrote:Well what's the point of having a desktop one? Still requires the internet and when you're online, you tend to have a browser open, so visiting one website instead of 50 is just as good.

- less loading, as you don't need to load additional metadata for each page
- as with above, generally faster, especially cached content
- integration, eg get a popup when there's a new article, similar to how MSN works
- almost always more configurable
- internet apps suck
- did I mention that internet apps suck?
- Google doesn't seem to like my connection (I often have to try 2-3 times to get a search to work)

And no, you can actually use these news readers without a connection. The connection is only required for downloading new articles, but if your connection dies, you can still view saved articles.

Mc Cabe · 21/03/2010 01:17 AM

ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote:- less loading, as you don't need to load additional metadata for each page
- as with above, generally faster, especially cached content
- integration, eg get a popup when there's a new article, similar to how MSN works
- almost always more configurable
- internet apps suck
- did I mention that internet apps suck?
- Google doesn't seem to like my connection (I often have to try 2-3 times to get a search to work)

And no, you can actually use these news readers without a connection. The connection is only required for downloading new articles, but if your connection dies, you can still view saved articles.

What happens if you don't have your computer and you're using a a computer, say, in the library?

Extensions/plugins can be easily added to a website to allow a popup notification. You can add even easily a notification in the tab, but I'm guessing you don't want the website open all the time.

I'm not sure about loading speeds but my point about using the desktop application offline is that the reader becomes obsolete without a connection to the internet, not straight away but as soon as all the cached articles have been read.

Furthermore google reader is lightning fast as well as all other Google products. I guess if you have a bad connection, a desktop application may be the way to go, but that still won't avoid connection errors to websites/RSS Feeds.

One more thing I like about web applications is that they update frequently and seamlessly. You don't have to download anything, go through any install update wizard.

Why dya hate web apps so much Zinga?

You know they're the future...in Google's eyes ;)

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