Advantages of Google RSS Reader over other Desktop RSS Readers

Jayant — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:30:30 +0000

Google Reader is a very powerful Application. For me life as a blogger is incomplete without Google Reader. It is the second widely used Application by me after Gmail. WordPress comes third.

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While Google Reader have been adopted by a large number of Bloggers but yet there are people who are stuck with Desktop RSS Readers. The Desktop RSS Readers have a few advantages of its own, but nothing beats the prospect of carrying your feeds with you where ever you go. Here are a few of the many advantages I find using Google Reader over the Desktop variants:

Portability: Google Reader is truly portable. All you need is your Google Account and you can carry all your RSS Feed list with your where ever you go on the earth. All is needed is a Browser and a Internet Connection.
Reliability: Like any other Google Product, the quality of this application is top notch. It does not miss or deletes your Feed list, have partial updates and performs what is needed from it very well.
Accessibility: Adding a new RSS Feed to the Feed list is very easy. All you have to do is Drag a Bokmarklet to your Bookmarks Toolbar of your Browser. Next time you come across an interesting Blog, just click this Bokmarklet and it will recognize the Feed Link and present you with a Subscribe option. Simple isn’t it..!!
Managing the RSS Tags: Managing the RSS Feeds and Organizing it is a Breeze. You can use tags to organize your Feeds in various categories as you please. It words the same way as Labels work in Gmail.
Sharing Feeds: Sharing your RSS Feeds and viewing your Friend’s Shared Feed is very easy. The Navigation Pane has a Shared Item link to view Feeds that are shared.
Public Page: It also provides with a public page where all your shared items can be viewed. Useful to redirect your friends to this link to show than what you are reading now.
Auto Sort: Now a high ranking frequently updated Blog like Gizmodo or Techcrunch will not dominate all your Recent Feed list. Google’s smart auto sort will show the recent list populated by the blog’s RSS feed based on its update frequency. More frequently updated blogs with have less content in the front page of recently updated view.
Google Backing: Since it is a Google product and a highly successful one, product updates and bug fixes are guaranteed.

So what more do you need. Make the switch now. I would son update an article on how to manage a huge RSS list with Google Reader. Log in to Google Reader and Remember to SUBSCRIBE.

Have a nice Day..!!

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Google Reader Shortcuts to speed up RSS Feed Reading

Jayant — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 01:05:04 +0000

Google Reader over time has come out to be an indispensable tool for the Bloggers. Its easy to carry all your favorite RSS Feeds and access it from anywhere. But with so many wonderful blogs already there and new one coming up by the seconds, you RSS subscriptions will grow to huge proportion very fast. Mine itself has grown beyond 400 as of writing.

However thanks to Google, Keyword Shortcuts comes to your help when surfing your RSS Feeds. Its easy to do the repititive task quickly at the press of a button rather than moving your mouse every time and click on the specific object. Press ? to quickly view all the keyboard shortcuts.

Frequently Used Shortcuts

Spacebar – To scroll page down. Use Shift + Spacebar to scroll page up.
J – To move to next Article in the List. Use K to move to the previous one.
N – to move to next Article in List Mode. Use P to move to the previous Article.
S – To star an Article. Use S again to unstar it.
Shift + S – To share an Article. Use Shift + S again to unshare it.
1 – To show an article in expanded view. Use 2 to show it in list view again.
T – Use for tagging an item. Open a input box for entering the value.

Other Shortcuts

Shift + N – To move to next Subscription. Use Shift + P to move to previous Subscription.
Shift + O – To open a Subscription or Folder selected. Use Shift + O again to close it.
Shift + X – To Expand a Folder. Use Shift + X again to close it.
E – For Emailing a selected Article.
Shift + D – To share an Article with a note.
V – Takes you to the Original source of the Article.
Enter / O – In list mode, opens the Article.
C – Lets you add comments. Use Shift + C to view all comments.
M – Mark as read. Use M again to mark as unread. Use Shift + M to mark all in current list as read.

Navigation Related Shortcuts

G -> H – Go to home View of Reader Application.
G -> A – Go to All Items view.
G -> S – Go to Star Items view.
G -> Shift + S – Go to Shared Items view.
G -> U – Open Subscription Selector.
G – > T – Open Tags Selector.
G -> Shift + T – Open Trends Selector.
G -> D – go to Discovery Page.
G -> F – Open Friend Selector.
G -> Shift + F – Open Friend’s Shared Items.
G -> C – Go to Comments View.
R – Refresh the Reader.
U – Opens the Full Screen Mode. Use U again to close Full Screen Mode.
/ – Move Cursor to search box.
A – Add a subscription.
= – Increase Magnification. Use “-” to Decrease Magnification.

There you have the complete list of Shortcuts for Google Reader. Try to use them as much as possible. After sometime it becomes very easy to remember and you will see notable Speed Gain in your RSS Feeds Reading Activity.

Share your Google Reader experience with us. Have a nice Day..!!