The Google Reader team unveiled a revamped version of their online feed reader today and no one can say it’s not a real RSS reader anymore. They even took Robert Scoble’s advice and made a demonstration video!
Changes include a whole new look and feel, folder navigation, unread item counts and the ability to mark items as read or unread. There’s a “river of news” view (click all feeds, view settings, sort by auto) and one click item sharing with friends. The new expanded view lets you scan down lots of items all at once.
I really like it, but the Google team went to great pains to explain the use of RSS in the simplest terms (”your inbox for the web”) and made it easy to switch back to the old interface for users who prefer it.
Robert Scoble had pointed out recently that unlike with Microsoft, who produce videos about loads of products, he couldn’t find videos about Google products anywhere. (Make sure to check out Robert’s new video show too.) It looks like the team took his suggestion, here’s their video. I think it’s does a great job of making the product and the medium easy to understand in just 49 seconds. Now where’s the video for people already familiar with RSS that will convince us to switch readers? Richard MacManus and Niall Kennedy are of the belief that the improved interface could lead to GMail/Google Reader integration.
In related Google news, note that as of today anyone (with Windows) can use Google Talk, no GMail account required.
PUES EMPEZAR A USARLO…..
ABRAZO VIRTUAL
I like the changes, especially with the sidebar now displaying one’s feeds/subscription instead of stories, in a typical manner as would be expected. The new “Home” displaying quick snips of the latest stories is nice, but I don’t think I’ll use it much. The area displaying quick shortcut tips should also come in handy, though mouse navigation works quite well.
One thing I miss is the search field - you now have to click browse to access the search field or “Add Subscription” to add a new feed. I liked the multi-purpose field that could accept search terms, pages with linked RSS feeds or the URI’s of RSS feeds themselves. Being a search company, I would have expected search to be front and center.
Its good.
GUAGUA - Gracias por tus comentarios. Sepamos el interfaz trabaja para los altavoces españoles, él es extraño en inglés de hecho. ¡gracias las herramientas de la lengua de Google!
Peter, I agree.
Finally some real competition for Bloglines. Won’t switch just yet, but when that gmail integration comes it’ll be hard not to.
I didn’t even know Google had a reader, but I just switched from Newsgator to Google Reader just now. Google is much nicer than Newsgator’s clunky ugly layout.
SI SEÑOR ARRIBA LAS HERRAMIENTAS DE GOOGLE….
VIRTUAL HUG
I’ve been using it for a while. The new features are exactly waht I wanted. Great job by Google!
I, like everyone else here, love the new layout. Everything is a billion times better.
But what do I really like? List view is awesome. If you combine that with the key combinations (especailly with some of the new ones), you have a snappy and efficient feed reader. best of all, you can use it on any machine :-D.
I’m still not convinced by the keyboard navigation in Google Reader. Bloglines makes this so easy; GReader seems very convoluted in comparison.
I run so much of my life through Google these days, but I think Bloglines will keep my RSS business for the time being.
props to the G Reader team for listening to the audience, and realizing that their original vision was ALL wrong, and having the guts to scrap it.
I’m not sold. I’d hate to think I was enamored with the old interface, but this one is too busy.
See http://www.google.com/talk/otherclients.html for instructions on how to use Google Talk on OS X and Linux.
its pretty cool………especially sidebar and video features..
Well I’ll give google this as well, the engineer in the introductory video, Chris Wetherell, is rather cute. In a scruffy Mountain View, needs a shave, could do with a haircut, probably doesn’t own a tie- kind of way.
A few suggestions for Google:
- They should host this instructional video on YouTube. Let YouTube subsidize the bandwidth costs and use YouTube’s audience to spark viral growth for Google Reader. Who uses Google Video anyway?
- The video would be more effective if they applied the LonelyGirl15 model. Put together a video showing Melissa Mayer on a bed in some PJs talking about how she’s an RSS virgin because her parents are luddites. Her boyfriend Larry has introduced her to a cult that worships a god called PageRank and now, unbeknownst to her parents, she’s secretly experimenting with RSS by using Google Reader. This would spark mass adoption overnight.
Also take a look at http://mintr.com.
We are not as gifted as Google is, but we are doing it right. Eventually we will reach there.
Very nice.
Marshall: Nial -> Niall
V 1.0 of Reader was kludgy, this version, well, I think they knocked the ball out of the stadium. Intuitive, easy to use, powerful. It just became my RSS Reader, had really found one I liked until this, and I’ve looked at lots of them.
PS Readers are highly personal. Google Reader just fits exactly what I want. Others, obviously, find other readers more preferable.
But Google just raised the bar…
Ack! Have you played with “settings?” Tags mean either Public or Private? It’s one thing to torque us by calling tags, labels with the Google Bookmark tool, but redifining tags….? Why does Gooliath continue to disrespect the community of web users that use and test it’s products?!@#$$#@(*@!?
It’s true that the language used in the interface is somewhat strange, but the functionality looks quite good so far.
Google was too late to improve their RSS reader. Last time I checked, it was buggy and ugly.
I’m extremely happy with Netvibes ( http://www.netvibes.com/ )
Well Erinc didn’t your mother tell you it is never to late to change
Man the new Reader rocks, and I love the short cut keys just like gmail very productive..
If at first you don’t suceed then try try again..
Google is obviously listening that has top be a good thing.
regards
Al
Not good as My Yahoo
i’m sticking with the excellent http://www.klipfolio.com/
I have tested the new reader, and it rocks. In my opinion, it represets AJAX used at it’s best. I can’t wait for version 3 of Google Reader, and hope it will be even better.
Go, Google!
Wow I’m impressed. Somehow it already found my FeedDemon .OPML file and had it listed, complete with read/unread items already marked. And it has the same list view I use, so maybe I will switch!
google has had a video demonstration for it’s checkout product for some months, but aside from that, i think this is their only other video.
i was not using any rss reader because the first i ever tried was this one and it has too many limitations until recently… now i think i have to start using google reader again
I haven’t played with the previous version of google reader much and have been using Wizz Rss - firefox plugin which i love..but as i type this switched to google reader. its too cool not to!!
I’ve used Google Reader for some of my feeds for a while, but the old interface was pretty limiting - it just became unmanageable once you had more than a few feeds (or if any given feed produced too many items). I think it just became my primary reader though - this thing is awesome.
Ironically though, my number one feature request *still* isn’t there. I think this is the only Google product which is lacking a *search* function. I mean come on… this is still Google right?
I honestly think it would be a killer feature for feed readers too - nothing is quite as annoying as having 20 different blogs in your feed list covering the same story. I’d love to be able to search for “Google Reader” right now and mark them all as read with one button….
now it look like more gmail-ish:)
last time i was using it few days ago and was thinking that the appearance is not sweet, like all the icons and windows were so large. but now i see it s a good move but still there are some faetures to be added
I’ve been using Google Reader for about six months, along with Rojo (and before that Bloglines), and trying out different desktop reader apps. All of which is to say that I couldn’t find something I was completely satisfied with. But this revamp takes it. At last, I’ve found “the one!” Great job by Google.
Day 1 - I’m loving it. Thank you Google (again)
I was happy before. I immediately switched the interface back to the old.
Also, your link to the demonstration video isn’t active! I’d like to see it!
A Google Product Video ?! Wow !
http://furbyandquackmore.blogspot.com/
One drawback inspite of the excellent user interface I can see is , unlike NetVibes, google does not give an overview of all the Subscriptions. This is the greatest functionality because I can have a quick view and decide whether I want to read a particular story on a blog, site (whatever).
At google reader I will need to go to each subscription and then decide whether to read a story or not. Netvibes just makes my life a bit simpler by giving me a snaphot view of all the subscriptions in on shot. I love this feature and will keep using netvibes until Google convinces me with something more worthwhile.
If they integrate this with gmail I’ll make the switch in a heartbeat.
#37:
You can actually accomplish that with the reader module on the Google homepage. You can add as many reader modules to the page as you like, and set each to show a different label. The effect is basically the same thing as Netvibes (Though overall I prefer Netvibes to Google IG).
The nice thing about this approach is it gives me a best of both worlds approach. I have a bunch of modules on the home page that I don’t subscribe to with reader (like Memeorandum and Techmeme, and other stuff that would quickly flood a news aggregator) in addition to several Reader modules for the stuff I do subscribe to - so I can get a pretty good overview of the news-of-the-moment. Then I drop into the reader application when I want to catch up on my feeds.
Hard to see room for too many blog readers in the space…I am pretty sure MS will come out with a solid integration with outlook as well shortly…Also google will probably link it with gmail.
it doesn’t export OPML tho …
once you check into Googe Reader, you can never check out.
(of course they *read* OPML if you want to check *in*!)
I Love it! Woohoo!
Hi Stan,
Reader does export OPML, you can do this by going to the Import/Export tab in Settings or by visting this URL when you are logged in: http://www.google.com/reader/subscriptions/export
Mihai Parparita
Google Reader Engineer
Anyone try it with Opera 9? All I get is a two little windows on Opera Linux. It’s not readable
Firefox Linux works fine.
I still enjoy BlogBridge. I especially like the sync option for various computers.
Looks good! I’m goign to try it out now
yes (in reference to comment #44 brad fuller) google reader in opera is not clear, the full list of feeds doesnt show up.
Yeah, tried it myself since Firefox was crashing like crazy. After telling the console to open with Javascript errors, I was flooded with issues surrounding Google Reader.
In contrast, I found that Google Reader was cluttered and slow in comparasion to Newshutch. I’m going to let this one bake in the oven a little longer.