Interface
Google made major revisions to Reader's user-interface on September 28, 2006. Product manager Nick Baum described the redesign as a movement toward making news aggregation something for the general public to enjoy. Kevin Fox, the designer of the revised Google Reader, noted that the original version was optimal for those who want to read a "river" of news. The new version took into account that most readers segment their reading by feed, group, tag, folder, or into "must read" and "maybe if I get to it" feeds.
Features of Google Reader as of 2010 include:
* a front page that lets you see new items at a glance
* import and export subscription lists as an OPML file
* keyboard shortcuts for main functions
* choice between list view or expanded view for item viewing (showing either just the story title or including a description, respectively)
* automatic marking of items as read as they are scrolled past
* search in all feeds, across all updates from subscriptions
Organization
Users can subscribe to feeds using either Google Reader's search function, or by entering in the exact URL of the RSS or Atom feed. New posts from those feeds are then shown on the left-hand side of the screen. One can then order that list by date or relevance. Items can also be organized with labels, as well as being able to create "Starred Items" for easy access.
Sharing
Items in Google Reader can be shared with other Web users. Previously this was done by sending a link through e-mail, directing the user to the shared article; or by creating a basic webpage that includes all shared items from a user's account. In December 2007, Google changed the sharing policy so that items the user marked as shared were automatically visible to their Google Talk contacts. Users criticized this change because there is no way to opt out. The URL for a user's page of shared items contains a random string, and Google originally advertised this as a way to limit sharing to only those people to whom you give the address.
Offline access
Google Reader was the first application to make use of Google Gears, a browser extension that lets online applications work offline. Users who have installed the extension can download up to 2000 items to be read offline. After coming back online, Google Reader updates the feeds. Google Reader stopped supporting this feature on June 1, 2010.
Mozilla integration
Google Reader is included within Mozilla Firefox and SeaMonkey's feed recognition, which can automatically redirect users to Google Reader's Add Subscription screen.
Mobile access
A mobile interface was released on May 18, 2006. It now can be used by devices that support XHTML or WAP 2.0. On May 12, 2008, Google announced a version of Google Reader targeted at iPhone users. It can be found here. In December 2010 Google released a Google Reader app for Android, which is available from the Android Market.
iGoogle
On May 4, 2006, Google released a new feature which enables feeds from Reader to be displayed on iGoogle (formerly Google Personalized Homepage).
Wii version
On May 8, 2007, Google created a version of Google Reader specifically formatted for the Wii web-browser - see http://www.google.com/reader/wii. However, starting in late 2009, the Wii version has limited functionality when used on the Wii console.
Play
On March 10, 2010, Google announced and released Google Reader Play. Play presents a slideshow interface which displays popular items one at a time. These items are drawn from assorted sites' feeds, and their appearance in Play is based on the data provided by Reader users' responses, e.g., how many people liked or shared the item. Unlike Google Reader, a Google Account is not required to access Play. Google Reader Play proved an instant hit, and is one of the most used Google products.
Requirements
In addition to a (free) Google Account, Google Reader requires one of the following web browsers to work:
* Google Chrome
* Mozilla 1.7+
* Mozilla Firefox 1.0+
* Netscape 7.2+
* Opera 9.0+
* Safari 1.3+
* Windows Internet Explorer 6+
* Wii Internet Channel
In all cases, JavaScript must be enabled for Google Reader to work.
0 comments