Comments for New-look Google Reader Is Stunning!

New-look Google Reader Is Stunning!

2006-09-29T00:20:21Z

Google Reader, Google's web-based RSS Aggregator, has had a re-design and I am impressed. It now has a look n' feel very much like Gmail, which I believe is a pointer to this product being prepped for mainstream promotion - and/or merged with Gmail. Probably a bit of both, as a standalone RSS Reader is always going to be needed. You'll recall that the new Yahoo Mail Beta has RSS integrated into its email experience - and the reason for that is quite simply to reach the 250 Million odd people that have a Yahoo Mail account. What better way to make RSS a mainstream experience than to integrate it into the web email platform. So I expect Google to follow suit.

Google Reader List view

You probably know that I am a huge fan of Gmail, so this new Google Reader interface was immediately a pleasure to use. I love that it automatically marks items as 'read' as you scroll. I also like the List view (very much like email), for quick scrolling, and the 'Expanded' view feels much more natural to use now. The 'sharing' functionality is excellent too - a shared clippings blog similar to Bloglines; and ability to share via email.

The new features:

Expanded view and list view
Simplified sharing functionality
Improved read-state management
Infinite scrolling
Unread counts
Mark all as read

I remember trying out Google Reader back in the Web 2.0 Conference last year, when it was launched. I was underwhelmed at that time, but this new design - with its Gmail-like interface, features, and speed to match - is much more impressive. Like Niall Kennedy, I hope they also integrate blog search into the Reader at some point - as well as tie into other Google services. But otherwise, Google has upped the ante in the online RSS Reader space. And also gone a long way towards matching Yahoo's email/RSS integration.

Expanded View

Update: Marshall Kirkpatrick at Techcrunch points out that Google is emphasizing the email tie-in: "Think of Google Reader as your inbox for the web."

Comment from ron on 2006-09-28

2006-09-29T02:02:17Z

Stunning!??? it's o.k-

why do i have a feeling that you are a PC user...

Comment from Hashim on 2006-09-28

2006-09-29T03:07:50Z

I really like it too, however right now it's acting very slow for me.

One feature that Bloglines has that I hope Greader integrates is the ability to create dummy emails and have some of your subscriptions come to the reader to be handled.

For instance, I subscribe to many newsletters, but I wish I could handle them in a river of news style interface. GReader would be great for this.

Comment from Richard MacManus on 2006-09-28

2006-09-29T03:57:07Z

OK maybe I was a little over enthusiastic, but any time Google releases a kick ass product or upgrade (as opposed to some of their 'see if it sticks to the wall' releases) - I'm happy!

And yes, I'm a PC user (just to be different).

Great point Hashim, newsletters via GReader would work well.

Comment from Emre Sokullu on 2006-09-28

2006-09-29T05:39:53Z

Seems like Google put their passion into this product as well. For me, Google Search, Gmail, Google Finance (, Writely, Blogger) are the best products of Google Inc so far; the others (like Google Web Page Creator) are just like placeholders without Google soul and creativity. Impatiently waiting all of them to become stable and get much better.

Comment from Nitin Nanivadekar on 2006-09-29

2006-09-29T12:41:43Z

Just try http://mintr.com for a real RSS 2.0 application

Comment from Josh Einstein on 2006-09-29

2006-09-29T16:38:07Z

If by stunning you mean plain and Yahoo, circa 1998ish looking, then yea, it's stunning.

Comment from nick gogerty on 2006-09-29

2006-09-29T22:29:06Z

we make something called the media inbox, an RSS reader that supports video and audio feeds and podcasts. We integrate into outlook and outlook express. Here is a demo http://www.inclue.com/outlookdemo

Free at www.inclue.com Kind of curious what the crowd thinks about the future of rich content delivered via media feeds.

Comment from Brett on 2006-09-29

2006-09-30T05:21:54Z

A little over enthusiastic? Your crazy. I'm a google fan too. I'm dying for them to fix google reader so I can ditch bloglines. This is closer to useable but not quite there.

Comment from mark on 2006-09-29

2006-09-30T05:41:11Z

Wow, Google keeps getting better and better everytime.

They now even have an easter egg:

http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2006/09/29/google-reader-easter-egg-found/

Comment from Tim Haynes on 2006-09-30

2006-10-01T02:30:05Z

ALMOST there. No hotkey to navigate between subs. If it had that, I'd be saying goodbye to bloglines.

Comment from Tim Haynes on 2006-09-30

2006-10-01T02:31:43Z

I take it back. Shift-n/shift-p to navigate subs, shift-o to open selected sub. Bye bye bloglines!

Comment from Todd Finley on 2006-10-01

2006-10-02T02:39:53Z

I like the Google Reader, but like NewsHatch better. Slick design--just fun to use.

Comment from Celse on 2006-10-01

2006-10-02T02:46:18Z

They have done a good job, but I have seen the beta version of a very cool RSS aggregator : itsmynews.com (not accessible yet). No need to understand RSS by the way. They are focus on news and have a huge data base of media RSS. They should be live soon. Watch out for it. They have done a smart job.

Comment from juan on 2006-10-08

2006-10-08T18:39:47Z

muy buen articulo y dise√±o web muy currado

Comment from Baig on 2006-10-11

2006-10-11T13:43:27Z

I like the Google Reader!

Comment from fred on 2006-10-28

2006-10-28T18:15:35Z

Ill excuse you the google myopia but I think you mean "bloglines like interface" not gmail like. In fact you could say "bloglines rip off like interface" which would be more accurate.