Commentary

Google Tweaks Its RSS Reader's Design

Yesterday, Google rolled out a redesign of its Reader product, which is, as the name implies, an RSS reader. The biggest changes include a new look, collapsible navigation, more visibility for your friends' shared items, and (blessedly!) the ability to hide unread counts.

Yesterday, Google rolled out a redesign of its Reader product, which is, as the name implies, an RSS reader. The biggest changes include a new look, collapsible navigation, more visibility for your friends' shared items, and (blessedly!) the ability to hide unread counts.Each morning when I sit down to Google Reader, there are anywhere from 750 to 1,000 unread items sitting in the queue. That can be daunting. Since I need to at least scan each of those headlines to determine their relevance, it takes a while. Once I pound through the initial set of feeds in the morning, I then stay on top of the feeds all day by returning to check in frequently. As Google suggests, the 1,000 unread posts in my Reader often "feel more like a to-do list than the random awesomeness of the Internet."

In response, Google has given Reader users the ability to hide the number of unread items in their feed. They will still see that there are unread items in each individual feed, but not how many.


More Internet Insights

White Papers

More >>

Reports

More >>

Webcasts

More >>

Other changes include a new look and feel. Google says, "Google is all about speed, both under the hood as well as in the user experience. So, in order to make Reader act and feel more speedy and responsive, we've removed some visual clutter, simplified some features, and given everything a bit more breathing room. Out with the old rounded corners, drop shadows, and heavily saturated colors -- in with a softer palette, faster components and a fresh new look."

To be quite honest, I'm not a fan of the new design. Google increased the spacing between items in the feed. This may make them easier to read, but it also means that fewer items fit onto a single page, and I am forced to scroll more. I'm also not thrilled about the new color scheme being used. In favor of the new design, I will say that some of the buttons have been enlarged, making them easier to find and press. Many of my friends on Twitter, however, are generally pleased with the new design.

It also has collapsible navigation. According to Google, each section of the navigation pane now has its own options menu and minimize/maximize controls. You can collapse each major section of navigation down to one line and focus on only the things you choose to use.

In all, the changes are many, and it will take some time to get used to them.


Related Reading




Currently we allow the following HTML tags in comments:

Single tags

These tags can be used alone and don't need an ending tag.

<br> Defines a single line break

<hr> Defines a horizontal line

Matching tags

These require an ending tag - e.g. <i>italic text</i>

<a> Defines an anchor

<b> Defines bold text

<big> Defines big text

<blockquote> Defines a long quotation

<caption> Defines a table caption

<cite> Defines a citation

<code> Defines computer code text

<em> Defines emphasized text

<fieldset> Defines a border around elements in a form

<h1> This is heading 1

<h2> This is heading 2

<h3> This is heading 3

<h4> This is heading 4

<h5> This is heading 5

<h6> This is heading 6

<i> Defines italic text

<p> Defines a paragraph

<pre> Defines preformatted text

<q> Defines a short quotation

<samp> Defines sample computer code text

<small> Defines small text

<span> Defines a section in a document

<s> Defines strikethrough text

<strike> Defines strikethrough text

<strong> Defines strong text

<sub> Defines subscripted text

<sup> Defines superscripted text

<u> Defines underlined text

InformationWeek encourages readers to engage in spirited, healthy debate, including taking us to task. However, InformationWeek moderates all comments posted to our site, and reserves the right to modify or remove any content that it determines to be derogatory, offensive, inflammatory, vulgar, irrelevant/off-topic, racist or obvious marketing/SPAM. InformationWeek further reserves the right to disable the profile of any commenter participating in said activities.

Disqus Tips To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy.
T-Shirt Giveaway T-Shirt Giveaway: Each week we're selecting one great comment from our readers. The author of the comment will receive an InformaitonWeek Community t-shirt. So get posting!
Subscribe to RSS

Resource Links