3 ms·

The problem isn't RSS itself, its shitty RSS readers. Think about the way RSS feeds are handled by browsersfor a second, because that's the most likely place a

The problem isn't RSS itself, its shitty RSS readers. Think about the way RSS feeds are handled by browsersfor a second, because that's the most likely place a user is going to encounter RSS feeds anyway ... Google Chrome sends you to Google reader or another RSS reader of your choice ... if you've never messed with RSS, you're going to tap out immediately (what the heck is an RSS reader?), Firefox adds it to your bookmarks, and you can't even tell when new items have arrived etc, The RSS feeds in IE are an absolute joke ... only Opera even gets this remotely right. Even on Feed Demon which is by far the best RSS reader on the market, the way it is initially set up, makes consuming content rather awkward unless you know exactly what you're doing. The View Port is half or a quarter the normal size of a browser window (until you adjust the reader orientation in the options), and you're forced to click twice to read content since the actual article isn't usually shown in the window ... Unless you're a determined user, you're not going to care very much for all the hoops you have to jump through to actually read content in an RSS reader ... when you can just keep using a browser. That is the problem. Google reader is nice, but why should I go to a web page to read content that I could be reading in a browser anyway? If someone sits down and makes a kick ass RSS reader (feed demon with smart defaults is pretty much there already), and sells the fact that you can now read, tag, annotate and bookmark your content as easily as you would with email ... and like email ... have the ability to get access to all these bookmarks, notes, read/unread articles regardless of what machine they were on ... I think RSS would get a lot more traction. So, lets focus less on the technology (how many email readers really care if they're using IMAP or POP, for example) and just get users a new, smarter way of consuming content. I bet there's some money in it even ;)

tjogin 16y ago
First, Google Reader is the best RSS reader I've tried. The reason one would go there when one could be reading the source website in the same browser instead is because presumably we're subscribing to more than just one RSS feed. So you go to Google Reader in place of visiting every single website whose RSS you subscribe to. Isn't that the original problem RSS tried to solve, anyways? Second, there are a slew of native clients for Google Reader, all of which synch up with it. Meaning, you can read your feeds on your smartphone, your iPad, your computer, your computer at your work, someone else's computer and everything is just synched. This works great for me, and there are some great native clients for Google Reader out there. Third, I don't understand the problem of having too many feeds. It's just a matter of removing the ones you don't want to read much, or categorize them into things that you must read, and things for when you are just bored. I think RSS reading is a tool for pros. It's not for those who just visit a handful of websites every day, it's for those who are interested in many many more, and who want to automate the task of finding out what websites have been updated; not an everyman a tool, it's one for advanced users. It doesn't matter how simple RSS useage is made, if you don't find the job of checking your sites for updates tedious and laborious you're not going to need an RSS reader.
- jokermatt999 16y ago
  I think RSS reading is a tool for pros. It's not for those who just visit a handful of websites every day, it's for those who are interested in many many more, and who want to automate the task of finding out what websites have been updated; not an everyman a tool, it's one for advanced users. It doesn't matter how simple RSS useage is made, if you don't find the job of checking your sites for updates tedious and laborious you're not going to need an RSS reader. I agree with most of your post, but I think this is somewhat off. It's less to do with pro/casual than the style of content consumption. Say Mrs Housewife usually just browses the front page of Yahoo. She doesn't need an RSS feed for that; she's fine with missing items. In fact, keeping up with all the content would probably be tiring. But then her friend Mrs Awesomecook starts a great blog sharing her recipes. Mrs Housewife wants to try each one, but Mrs Awesomecook only seems to update once or twice every week. This is when you want RSS. She wants to see every single item, but checking the site can become a chore. It's annoying to check this and her other friends' blogs when there's nothing new, but she also wants to see all of the new stuff and in a timely manner. By subscribing to an RSS feed, she can make this easier. I think part of the problem is that Mrs Housewife has no idea what an RSS feed or reader is, much less what it's useful for. Furthermore, to learn a new technology like that, she'd have to see a benefit worth taking the trouble for, which usually has to be pretty high for non-technical users. Edit: And apologies if my examples seem prejudiced/sexist, it was just the first thing that came to mind since it's somewhat similar to why I taught my mom to use Google Reader (which she now loves).

tjogin 16y ago

First, Google Reader is the best RSS reader I've tried. The reason one would go there when one could be reading the source website in the same browser instead is because presumably we're subscribing to more than just one RSS feed. So you go to Google Reader in place of visiting every single website whose RSS you subscribe to. Isn't that the original problem RSS tried to solve, anyways? Second, there are a slew of native clients for Google Reader, all of which synch up with it. Meaning, you can read your feeds on your smartphone, your iPad, your computer, your computer at your work, someone else's computer and everything is just synched. This works great for me, and there are some great native clients for Google Reader out there. Third, I don't understand the problem of having too many feeds. It's just a matter of removing the ones you don't want to read much, or categorize them into things that you must read, and things for when you are just bored. I think RSS reading is a tool for pros. It's not for those who just visit a handful of websites every day, it's for those who are interested in many many more, and who want to automate the task of finding out what websites have been updated; not an everyman a tool, it's one for advanced users. It doesn't matter how simple RSS useage is made, if you don't find the job of checking your sites for updates tedious and laborious you're not going to need an RSS reader.

jokermatt999 16y ago
I think RSS reading is a tool for pros. It's not for those who just visit a handful of websites every day, it's for those who are interested in many many more, and who want to automate the task of finding out what websites have been updated; not an everyman a tool, it's one for advanced users. It doesn't matter how simple RSS useage is made, if you don't find the job of checking your sites for updates tedious and laborious you're not going to need an RSS reader. I agree with most of your post, but I think this is somewhat off. It's less to do with pro/casual than the style of content consumption. Say Mrs Housewife usually just browses the front page of Yahoo. She doesn't need an RSS feed for that; she's fine with missing items. In fact, keeping up with all the content would probably be tiring. But then her friend Mrs Awesomecook starts a great blog sharing her recipes. Mrs Housewife wants to try each one, but Mrs Awesomecook only seems to update once or twice every week. This is when you want RSS. She wants to see every single item, but checking the site can become a chore. It's annoying to check this and her other friends' blogs when there's nothing new, but she also wants to see all of the new stuff and in a timely manner. By subscribing to an RSS feed, she can make this easier. I think part of the problem is that Mrs Housewife has no idea what an RSS feed or reader is, much less what it's useful for. Furthermore, to learn a new technology like that, she'd have to see a benefit worth taking the trouble for, which usually has to be pretty high for non-technical users. Edit: And apologies if my examples seem prejudiced/sexist, it was just the first thing that came to mind since it's somewhat similar to why I taught my mom to use Google Reader (which she now loves).