Author Topic: Do you use RSS feeds? (Read 46663 times)

moerl · « **Reply #50 on:** May 08, 2006, 03:19 AM »

Right now I'm using RSS only for podcasts for my iPod. (Before anyone freaks - The iPod isn't that bad... it's iTunes that could use some help.)

I'm also using custom XML feeds for GDT, my MP3 player software for musicians. XML is just so amazing to work with. *.gdt song configuration files are all just XML.

I've seen a few people post about RSS readers, but can anyone recommend anything that's top notch? I really don't like to fiddle too much with software and prefer that things just work easily. Most often I don't even need that much power from a lot of software. So anything decent that will work and let me configure things nicely would be perfect.

Yes - I'm being lazy - Just no time to fiddle. I prefer recommendations to start with as opposed to trying out 50 different things...

-Renegade (May 05, 2006, 10:18 AM)

I swear by FeedDemon. It isn't free, but I'll be damned if it isn't the best feed reader in existence. A good free one is GreatNews Newsreader, though I do not like it nearly as much as I like FeedDemon. If you'd like to stay free, however, GreatNews is a very good option. If you use Thunderbird for email, it can handle newsfeeds as well. I used it for quite a while that way and loved it, but of course it would not survive a comparison to any serious, real feedreader. Or, use Firefox, as bliss said above.

m_s · « **Reply #51 on:** May 08, 2006, 03:28 AM »

I searched around quite a bit, and tried several readers. GreatNews was definitely closest second runner, but I finally paid for FeedDemon a few weeks back - it's great!

Armando · « **Reply #52 on:** December 04, 2007, 10:32 PM »

Bump...

I've tried quite a few RSS feed readers, and I found that one common annoyance is the inability to support folders (categories) hierarchies for better organization of your feeds. Weird. GreatNews, FeedDemon, FeedReader, you name it : they can't do that.

Of the one I tried, only NewzCrawler and RSSOwl support true "categories" hierarchies. There might be others...

I must say that I was impressed with NewzCrawler when I tried it a while ago. Pretty light, lots of features, smart folders, category hierarchies... For a while I wondered if development had stopped or what… But there was recently an announcement about version 1.9 : http://www.newzcrawler.com/news.shtml .

Anybody here used NewzCrawler for a while and could comment ?

muntealb · « **Reply #53 on:** December 04, 2007, 11:17 PM »

Newzie ( http://newzie.com/ ) supports folders. Click on the button "Switch to TreeView" (the icon is suggestive) to manage the feeds and folders. Newzie is free.

I have tested Newzcrawler and it is very good. Read the Newzcrawler forums to see if there are problems that could annoy you.

Armando · « **Reply #54 on:** December 05, 2007, 06:19 PM »

Thanks for the link !

Newzie looks interesting. I've installed it and started to play with it. It doesn't seem to play well with keyboard shortcuts... But, on the "plus" side, it seems to have a kind of WebsiteWatcher feature-- ie : it doesn't only monitor RSS feeds but also web pages ! I'll use it more before saying anything else...

lanux128 · « **Reply #55 on:** December 05, 2007, 11:00 PM »

+1 for newzie! i too like the ability to monitor web-pages eventhough sometimes the non-standard windows can get in the way..

Armando · « **Reply #56 on:** December 05, 2007, 11:02 PM »

I wonder : is the whole thing coded in java ???

Lanux : did you find any useful keyboard shortcuts? EDIT : never mind

: they're partly customizable via the preferences!

(BTW : thanks for the screenshot !)

lanux128 · « **Reply #57 on:** December 05, 2007, 11:30 PM »

I wonder : is the whole thing coded in java ???
-Armando (December 05, 2007, 11:02 PM)

no, i don't think so because it's a bit too fast to be running under JRE..

Armando · « **Reply #58 on:** December 10, 2007, 11:29 AM »

Like others here (app103, muntealb,...) I find Newzie very nice.

But, like I said, there is one thing that bothers me : the complete lack of "keyboard friendliness"... I mean : I can't close option windows with [esc]... or [ctrl]+[F4] or [ctr]l+[w] won't close tabs, [alt]+[letter] won't activate the different menus, [tab] or [arrows] don't work, etc.

But... there ARE shortcuts for some other functions : like to close ALL tabs, send feedback, open preferences, ... But why only these? Weird. It's otherwise a very nice app. I wonder if the developer(s) will consider improving that aspect...

I sent him/her an email… we’ll see

lanux128 · « **Reply #59 on:** December 10, 2007, 06:05 PM »

I sent him/her an email… we’ll see
-Armando (December 10, 2007, 11:29 AM)

please do, Armando.. i thought of adding keyboard shortcuts via AHK but maybe later.. also if you switch from "Today" panel to full-view mode, the program moves upwards by a few pixels. do you have this problem?

Today panel

Armando · « **Reply #60 on:** December 10, 2007, 10:14 PM »

I didn't notice anything about the main window moving upward. But dragging the "today panel" can be hard though : I have to move it very slowly, otherwise the mouse pointer just slides away...!

The windows are not standard... vitalyb' alt+tab replacement for farr can't detect it properly.

But these are small small problems. Overall, I think Newzie has the potential to be one of the best rss aggregator out there (combines, RSS feeds, web pages, Bulk and virtual channels, folders (!), word filters, etc.), with NewzCrawler and a few others. Not to mention that it's free!

it's just this keyboard thing...

Smart folders would be nice too.

lanux128 · « **Reply #61 on:** December 10, 2007, 11:42 PM »

yes, i have to agree with you - the non-standard windows is a bit of a downer as it is not keyboard-centric.. i'm trying to fix that with AHK. let's see how things go from here..

[Select]

DetectHiddenWindows On
SetTitleMatchMode 2

;Close Newzie main & options window
$Escape::
IfWinActive Newzie
WinClose
Else
;else just send the keystroke
Send,{ESCAPE}
Return

lanux128 · « **Reply #62 on:** December 11, 2007, 12:06 AM »

just saw this on the AHK forums.. it looks like only the Newzie devs can make any changes to keyboard short-cuts.

All the controls begining with "Afx" comes froms progs developped in VC++ with the MFC. They are not standard controls and can't be managed directly with AHK. So AFAIK 2 solutions : eiter copy/pase in the control to get/put data in it (but you said you can't) or use (if suitable) an eventualy COM interface with COM.ahk or WS4AHK (search for these words in the forum if applicable to your situation).
Hope it helps.
-Zoulou

Source: http://www.autohotke...iewtopic.php?t=23410

Armando · « **Reply #63 on:** December 11, 2007, 01:47 AM »

Thanks lanux. So I guess we'll have to wait...???
(BTW : at least your little script does the job for ESC-->close window... Thanks!

But I guess that's pretty much it since Newzie's "controls" can't be directly managed with AHK...)

muntealb · « **Reply #64 on:** December 11, 2007, 04:05 AM »

I have used Newzie for a year but now I use mainly GreatNews (one of the reasons is the fact that GN can be translated, whereas Newzie cannot be at this time). Newzie is good-looking and has some very useful features (for example the List View, that orders the feeds after the date of the last update), but it does have its share of usability problems. One is the impossibility to use an external browser. The developer responds to the e-mails usually quite rapidly, but does not always implement the requested features, although it will offer explanations for that (I wanted the tabs to be closed on double-click and I wanted also the tabs to have shorter titles, so I could open more of them).

There is room for improvement regarding the management of tabs, for example the tabs could be locked in order to not close them accidentally. Or they could be moved, etc. They could also be opened (optionally) in the background. I think I have made at least 10 suggestion like that, but they were not implemented, for various reasons. But all the bugs reported by me were fixed.

The problem seems to be that there is only one developer and it also works on Ziepod (the best podcast catcher in my opinion) and lately on a discussion platform (like a forum, but with audio posts) that was not greeted with enthusiasm.

I always recommend Newzie to the people that do not want to use GreatNews. But I also recommend Abilon ( http://www.softpedia...g-Tools/Abilon.shtml ) , a software that is not developed anymore, but also supports folders. I had lenghty e-mail exchanges with the author of Abilon and some features were suggested by me. Unfortunately he decided to abandon the software because he lacked the time to develop it further. But the program is very stable and can be used without problems even now, even on Vista.

The sad fact is that Google Reader killed many of the RSS aggregators. I dont like GR at all, but many people use it, especially those that are not so habituated with RSS. I think GR became in just a year the most used RSS aggregator software. Some developers could not sell their programs anymore and consequently abandoned them (Abilon had also a paid version, named Active Refresh) or put them on hold for a long time (Newzcrawler).

Armando · « **Reply #65 on:** December 11, 2007, 04:53 PM »

I might give Newzcrawler another try. I don't know if it has the "webpage watching" feature, but I remember being impressed by its general overall quality and features.

lanux128 · « **Reply #66 on:** December 11, 2007, 06:26 PM »

thanks for the input, muntealb.. it was great that you got in touch with the Newzie devs. and also you put out some good points such as external browser & tab management. the tab management features is not a big minus but being a Firefox user who is spoilt for choices with tab management add-ons, some extra options would be nice..

i remember trying out GreatNews some time ago but can't remember why i stopped using it, maybe it's time for another spin. Abilon sounds good but i'm a bit a wary of spending time with an abandoned projects, it's different if i'm already using it when it stopped being developed.. anyway, i hope desktop aggregators live on despite the online apps given away by Google & others..

muntealb · « **Reply #67 on:** December 12, 2007, 12:37 AM »

I really think that right now GreatNews is the best free RSS reader. It is stable and has all the needed functions, but more important it has the best compatibility with any type of news feed. There are feeds that Newzie refuses to display, but GN has no problems with them. Newzie also has a problem with the date of the news items, sometimes after adding a new feed the items are not arranged correctly by date and appear as having been written at the same time. Abilon is a good program, but it is not Unicode compatible, so some non-english feeds are not displayed correctly (both GreatNews and Newzie are Unicode compatible).

Daleus · « **Reply #68 on:** December 12, 2007, 08:16 AM »

I didn't like the questions much either.

I chose the second option, although I *don't* use them just once in a while. I have a collection of feeds I read everyday, but I could easily live without them because I already have for 20 years

As for what program, I read em all within Firefox using the "Live bookmarks" feature. The last thing I want is yet another bloody program that I have to use.

Cheers!

Poll

Do you use rss feeds?

Author Topic: Do you use RSS feeds? (Read 46663 times)