Why I've made the move to Google Reader and suggest you do the same:
1. It's super easy to mark items and find them later - Google reader has me covered when I come across articles I want to save for closer reading later or I find links I need to quickly reference again. It used to be in Bloglines that I would have to go through a "clip" process that would take several clicks and require drop-down menus. Now all I have to do is hit the "add star" link (or click the star icon and I'm all set. All starred items are kept in a continuous feed that is only one click away and easily accessible from the reader homepage.
2. Sharing articles is easier - I come across articles all the time that I think Julie should read when she gets the chance. Instead of going through the "blog this" link in Bloglines which would again require several clicks, I can click the "share" link and place the articles in a running RSS feed (and article page) that Julie has subscribed to on her computer. Easy as pie and quick to boot.
3. There's more flexibility in viewing options - When I want to breeze through a bunch of articles and quickly browse I can use list view and expand articles as I click on the headlines. When I want to see more information all at once I can use the expanded view and read through the articles one-by-one. Bloglines locks me into the expanded view, which can make reading through a long list of articles a royal pain.
4. Unread articles don't expire - On Bloglines there is a cap of 200 articles kept on any one RSS feed that effectively stops updating once you've hit that limit. This poses a problem with feeds that are constantly updating with high numbers of articles (like news feeds) and prevents me from keeping up with things when I've missed a few days of reading. Now with Google Reader feeds that have large numbers of unread articles are just marked with "100+" and new articles keep getting added even after over 200 are accumulated.
5. The feed homepage is actually useful - On Bloglines all I see is an advertisement or usability tip when I go to my homepage of feeds. Google Reader gives me a page that lists my last starred and shared item, a small sample of the available unread articles laid out in front of me, and messages from the development team that help with usability issues.
6. Articles aren't marked as read until I actually click them or scroll past them - This was the clincher for me when it came to switching from Bloglines to Google Reader. I keep my RSS feeds organized by category and every time I would click on the categories on Bloglines it would mark all of the feeds in that category as read...even if I had yet to get to them. Google reader lets me click on categories and even click on the individual feeds without marking anything as read. It's only when I click on headlines in list view or scroll past articles on expanded view that they are marked as read. Google Reader is sensible enough to know that clicking on a category doesn't automatically mean I've read all the links underneath it.
Hello
I was looking for ways that would help me get free traffic to my Blog. While I was searching on BlogExplosion I found your Blog. I know it does not have to do with getting traffic but I really enjoyed reading it, great job!! In fact I have my own Blog and I get a lot of free traffic from http://www.autosurfmonster.com , If I were you I would submit this Blog to them so thousands of others can see it for free. Well, I will add your Blog to my favorites and I look forward to all the updates.
Jessica
Posted by: jessica freeman | 12/10/2006 at 06:33 PM
jessica freeman? as in jessica elliott freeman?
Posted by: carl azbell | 12/23/2006 at 01:40 AM