Archive for July, 2006
In my search to find a better solution to reading my subscribed feeds in a standalone desktop client, it seems other people are thinking about reading feeds as well.
Online, Offline or Both
Just this morning David at BloggingPro, wrote about his use of feed readers and offers his opinion and habits using online services such as Bloglines and offline clients like FeedDemon. My own experience using most online tools—not just feed readers—is that they are slow and changing settings is often takes two to three times as many steps vs. a standalone application.
Folder and the River
This afternoon, Robert Scoble noted that he prefers the folder to the river as a method for reading posts. This is the way I have been reading feeds this last few months. I had tried browser extensions and then switched to the feed reading support in Thunderbird but became frustrated with a lack of control of my feed appearance.
Cautious Conversion to FeedReader
My search led me to install FeedReader. I am a cautious convert. I had no trouble installing the application but I found that its default display was too small and the contrast was too low. Fortunately, if you know Cascading Style Sheets, changing the display is quite easy using the XSL file.
NewsGator Doesn’t Make it Easy
After a comment from NewsGator regarding my complaint that I was unable to download their reader for the 30-day trial, I successfully downloaded and installed it. Too bad after importing my OPML file from FeedReader, FeedDemon kept coming up with errors. Sorry NewsGator, two failures and you’ve lost me. Seemed like it would be a good application but who has the time to debug commercial software issues. (Jack Brewster: I don’t have an hour to uninstall and reinstall and go through the process of trying to make it work. Maybe I will revisit this soon.
Tags: BloggingPro, Bloglines, FeedDemon, feed readers, rss readers, Robert Scoble, FeedReader, NewsGator
July 14th, 2006
I posted the other day about unsubscribing from blogs because I was getting only partial feeds and no link. I have come to realize that the bloggers in question are not to blame and it is really a function of my feed reader client. On an average day I read between 20-50 posts. I don’t necessarily read the whole post. I usually skim the article and if they are sending me partial feeds it takes me out of flow.
I have been managing and reading feeds using Mozilla Thunderbird. It has worked for me for a number of reasons but for me the killer is that I can organized feeds into category folders instead of having a huge list of feeds organized by title or feed URL. As a stop-gap it would be good if Thunderbird could determine if it was a full or partial feed and then attach the permalink to the bottom of the post so I don’t have to drop down the header to find the link and click on it.
Ideally what I want is a feed reading application that doesn’t require me to have to switch applications while reading. Either Thunderbird could further integrate its HTML support and Flash as well have the links to feeds open in the preview pane instead of having to switch to Firefox.
I know that there a number of desktop feed readers as well as some browser integrated readers. Which ones work the best and why.
As I write this post I have downloaded and installed Feedreader 3.05 and it looks promising. I have also attempted to download News Gator’s Feed Demon but for some reason when I click to download on their site I receive a JavaScript prompt for a username and password.
I’ll post soon with the results.
Thanks Jules for making me try something new.
Tags: Feedreader, FeedDemon, Thunderbird, blog reader, feed reader, productivity, Julian Rickards, tools
July 14th, 2006
Are you giving your blog readers partial feeds?
There is nothing wrong with delivering partial feeds. The main benefit is it ensures people will visit your site to read the complete posts and therefore be exposed to your advertising or messages. In addition, they may benefit from seeing other content that they wouldn’t see if they just read your feed.
The issue that prompted this post is that two blogs (this one and this one) I came across this month offer partial post feeds only.
I read blogs using Thunderbird. In the content window, all I see is a partial post that just ends. There is no ellipsis. There is no link to read on. It just ends. For a couple days, I just thought it was sloppy writing and then I realised that the posts were incomplete. So, in order for me to read the complete post I have to open up the headers bar in my reader and click on the permalink which opens my browser to the complete post. This takes me way out of flow. I generally read most blog posts fairly quickly and I don’t read all of them unless they look interesting or valuable.
It is bad enough that I have to go to the site at all, but why do you make me have to work for it? Why can you not place a link at the end of the post fragment to tell me to “read on”.
Three Solutions
Here are a three possible solutions for the need to deliver partial feeds:
- Include a link at the end of the excerpt to the permalink.
- Monetize the feeds by adding inline ads.
- Include special offers, links to related posts and products at the end of your syndicated posts.
Great Content Will Deliver Site Visits
Send whole feeds and don’t worry about site visits. If your posts are compelling, I will happily visit your site. Examples of this are StevePavlina.com or ProBlogger.net. Both of these blogs run full-post feeds and I often visit their sites, not because they force me, but because the content is so good I want to read more.
Tell me what you think?
Tags: blog, DesignByFire, problogger.net, Slow Leadership, stevepavlina.com, Thunderbird
July 10th, 2006
To all my fellow Canadians at home and abroad. Have a proper beer and have fun with some friends today on Canada’s Birthday.
For those of you from other places you can read the background on our National birthday from the government or the Wikipedia version.
All the best!
July 1st, 2006