Author Topic: Do you use RSS feeds? (Read 62,107 times)

brotherS · « **Reply #25 on:** April 07, 2006, 05:46 PM »

Quote from: superboyac on April 07, 2006, 03:52 PM

There are a few forums I want to keep track of, so obviously rss feeds are good for that. The thing I didn't like was that rss feeds don't actually give the whole thread or information, they just give a few lines of the whole thread. Is this true for all rss feeds?

Yes!

Quote

To get the whole feed, you still have to go to the actual website, whether that is supported inside the actual application or using your regular web browser. Right? So, basically, I get a taste of the thread, but I still have to go the website to read the whole thing. That didn't do much for me. I'd rather be able to have the complete threads from all the forums come into the application where I can read all of them in their entireity in one place. Was it my setup that was wrong, or is this really how rss feeds work?

RSS feeds can't work the way you suggest, that would defeat the purpose of RSS. While RSS is often translated to "Really Simple Syndication" you want "Really Not A Simple Syndication"...

Many pages contain images, video content, ads (they need to refinance their sites somehow) or articles are spread over more than one page only (I wonder how those newspaper style readers handle those), so it would mean LOTS of bandwith to transfer EVERYTHING when the typical RSS feed reader is only interested in a few % of the feed items.

superboyac · « **Reply #26 on:** April 07, 2006, 05:59 PM »

Perhaps the following is a good solution, and I don't know if any of the existing softwares do this:

All of the text parts of the thread will appear in the rss reader, but for any noncompatible objects (like video or pictures), you can click on the link to the thread to read it in the original webpage. But it would be nice to get all the text at least.

skwire · « **Reply #27 on:** April 10, 2006, 06:52 AM »

My favourite feed reader is RSS Bandit. It has a synch feature that I love...makes reading feeds between work and home much much easier.

http://www.rssbandit.org

brotherS · « **Reply #28 on:** April 10, 2006, 07:02 AM »

Quote from: skwire on April 10, 2006, 06:52 AM

It has a synch feature that I love...makes reading feeds between work and home much much easier.

Now that's a smart idea!

dpierron · « **Reply #29 on:** April 10, 2006, 07:53 AM »

Yes, I tried it and it was very good. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to download the web content of the RSS news items in an offline cache, to read offline while commuting ; did that situation evolve ?

skwire · « **Reply #30 on:** April 10, 2006, 08:12 AM »

Quote

Yes, I tried it and it was very good. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to download the web content of the RSS news items in an offline cache, to read offline while commuting ; did that situation evolve ?

I've no idea as I don't use the offline mode. Apologies.

dpierron · « **Reply #31 on:** April 10, 2006, 08:49 AM »

No problem ; I shall try that for myself, and answer my own question here

moerl · « **Reply #32 on:** April 10, 2006, 05:11 PM »

Oh crap.. RSS Bandit looks really good, actually

. Have to give that a shot. I don't know why I have never considered it before, but judging just by the screenshots, I already know I'll like it better than Greatnews, if for no other reason than that it has a vertical layout!

moerl · « **Reply #33 on:** April 10, 2006, 05:14 PM »

Just wondering.. any idea on whether it is still being worked on? Of course it may be too soon to ask this.. but if there is one thing I have a hard time doing it's using software that is not supported anymore.

allen · « **Reply #34 on:** April 10, 2006, 05:19 PM »

Don't know -- I know where you're coming from, though. Even an application that is seemingly perfect, knowing it's abandoned just makes me . . . abandon it. I loved, for example, Lektora -- but it went for a long time looking abandoned. I think it's back in development again, but . . . I don't feel like launching Firefox or Internet Explorer for it. So it goes.

moerl · « **Reply #35 on:** April 10, 2006, 05:34 PM »

Quote from: allen on April 10, 2006, 05:19 PM

Don't know -- I know where you're coming from, though. Even an application that is seemingly perfect, knowing it's abandoned just makes me . . . abandon it. I loved, for example, Lektora -- but it went for a long time looking abandoned. I think it's back in development again, but . . . I don't feel like launching Firefox or Internet Explorer for it. So it goes.

Now that you mention it, Lektora does look cool as hell

. Is the project dead?

But yeah.. I don't like using anything that isn't worked on anymore. Especially since nothing is perfect and can always use improvements.. so if I use software like that with the knowledge that those bugs will NEVER be fixed.. what's the point? May as well use something that is still actively being worked on.

skwire · « **Reply #36 on:** April 10, 2006, 07:41 PM »

Quote

Just wondering.. any idea on whether it is still being worked on? Of course it may be too soon to ask this.. but if there is one thing I have a hard time doing it's using software that is not supported anymore.

Yes, it is.

Redhat · « **Reply #37 on:** April 11, 2006, 07:26 AM »

Personally use FeedDemon/FeedStation for RSS and Podcasts

Has everything I need and 2.0 is really responsive - unlike the betas (for me)

I voted for the second from top option - I use them everyday, but I could live without them - it would just take more time

allen · « **Reply #38 on:** April 11, 2006, 10:52 AM »

Quote from: moerl on April 10, 2006, 05:34 PM

Now that you mention it, Lektora does look cool as hell . Is the project dead?
But yeah.. I don't like using anything that isn't worked on anymore. Especially since nothing is perfect and can always use improvements.. so if I use software like that with the knowledge that those bugs will NEVER be fixed.. what's the point? May as well use something that is still actively being worked on.

Lektora does a great job -- and can be manipulated as easily with the mouse or keyboard. I just wish it was standalone rather than browser integrated. Anyway, it looks like it's un-abandoned. They website has had a total (and very much for the better) facelift, and there has been a significant update -- such as the ability to post to blogs as well.

The author is a competent friendly guy who I think put his eggs in that basket, found it a bit more difficult to make a living on an unknown RSS reader than he thought, and had to get a job for a while to rethink his strategy.

At any rate, check it out -- nothing to lose. I handles feeds elegantly, the persistent searches are a great feature.

moerl · « **Reply #39 on:** April 11, 2006, 02:20 PM »

I'm a little discouraged by the tagline "RSS for bloggers". It sounds like it's very much a tool specifically geared toward bloggers who like to grab content from other blogs they may also want to blog about. Do you think it's a good RSS reader if it is judged by that function alone?

allen · « **Reply #40 on:** April 11, 2006, 02:36 PM »

Quote from: moerl on April 11, 2006, 02:20 PM

I'm a little discouraged by the tagline "RSS for bloggers". It sounds like it's very much a tool specifically geared toward bloggers who like to grab content from other blogs they may also want to blog about. Do you think it's a good RSS reader if it is judged by that function alone?

That's relatively new stuff, I can only vouch for the reading aspect of it -- which was a solid, albeit different, approach to feed reading than your typical e-mail-esque readers. That said, I think that the blog writing features are more a partnership -- with Qumana. Don't know if it can be removed or optionally not installed, but Lektora was originally nothing more than a reader and I found it to be quite good for reading. It was solid before it became "RSS for bloggers". I'm assuming the reader is still wholly intact.

Note: Lektora is a relatively simple reader, no excess (except maybe the ability to post to blogs, now

-- just what was necessary to effectively read your feeds plus the ability to add persistent searches as virtual feeds into your newspaper. I'd always thought "Lekrota: RSS, to the point" would have made a good slogan -- it's short, sweet, to the point

moerl · « **Reply #41 on:** April 12, 2006, 03:03 AM »

Cool. That changes the whole picture of course. Thank you! Will have to give it a shot then

I'm still trying to become friends with RSS Bandit. Our first date wasn't as smooth as it could have been. Maybe the second one will be better

jgpaiva · « **Reply #42 on:** April 12, 2006, 08:45 AM »

Quote from: moerl on April 12, 2006, 03:03 AM

Maybe the second one will be better

It's unbelievable the amount of times that smilie gets misused.

f0dder · « **Reply #43 on:** April 12, 2006, 09:35 AM »

Quote from: jgpaiva on April 12, 2006, 08:45 AM

Quote from: moerl on April 12, 2006, 03:03 AM
Maybe the second one will be better
It's unbelievable the amount of times that smilie gets misused.

Mouser needs to fix the smiley

moerl · « **Reply #44 on:** April 12, 2006, 09:54 PM »

Indeed. It's supposed to be a smiley sticking out his tongue, not one that looks like he's sick to his stomach..

Dennis the Menace · « **Reply #45 on:** May 04, 2006, 06:02 PM »

I use Feed Demon for my feeds and use it daily, don't know how I managed before I got it.

moerl · « **Reply #46 on:** May 05, 2006, 01:51 AM »

Quote from: Dennis the Menace on May 04, 2006, 06:02 PM

I use Feed Demon for my feeds and use it daily, don't know how I managed before I got it.

It's the best. By far. I tried out so many different readers and in the end simply came back to FeedDemon.

bliss · « **Reply #47 on:** May 05, 2006, 07:58 AM »

My favorite is Firefox. I have a drop-down menu with 13 Newspaper headline feeds. It's easy to scan a few hundred Headlines then open up a few at a time in different tabs. Very efficient!

My previous favorite was Serence Klip Folio which let me put a whole series of buttons across the bottom of the screen. Each button would pop-up a menu fo the RSS feed's headlines. Oddly enough KlipFolio claims to be built on Mozilla -so i guess there are versions for real operating systems too. I really liked it, but personally I found Firefox the simplest.

Using Firefox is a bit foxy in that adding new feed requires cut & paste, and to make a new 'Live Bookmark' from the 'Manage Bookmarks' window.

I really wish Firefox could deal with Favorites properly, it would make the whole process so much easier.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #48 on:** May 05, 2006, 08:57 AM »

You don't need to add RSS feeds to the Live Bookmarks bar using cut and paste. Just navigate to the page where the RSS link is to the feed and a symbol appears in the address bar. Click on it and it will list all feeds on that page and let you subscribe to them instantly. (If you are reading this in Firefox the icon is there now at the right hand end of the address bar - in the default theme it is orange).

If you want to use RSS in Firefox a better way is to use the extension 'Sage'. See my mini review here http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1685.msg24084#msg24084.

Renegade · « **Reply #49 on:** May 05, 2006, 03:18 PM »

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...