Feb
6
Wizz RSS – The Easy RSS Solution
Filed Under Firefox, Productivity, add-ons, episode, feeds, google reader, guide, how-to, rss, screencast, tutorial | 3 Comments
Wizz RSS is a “feed reader” for anyone who doesn’t like RSS programs or can’t remember to check online readers (like Google Reader or Bloglines). It’s a very accessible alternative and keeps things very simple for the user.
It’s not immediately intuitive, though, for those who are still new to the use of feeds to keep track of their favorite sites. In today’s video, we’ll cover the basics to get you started with Wizz RSS.
If you aren’t using any RSS reader yet, pay attention: You are missing out. If you use your feeds right, it can be one of the greatest time savers you can take advantage of. So please give it a try, for your own sake!
-Garrett
Jul
20
RSS Feeds: Using Google Reader with RSS, Atom, & XML Feeds
Filed Under Productivity, episode, feeds, google reader, how-to, rss, screencast, tutorial | 1 Comment
Episode 10 -
If any acronym can boast full penetration from geekdom to the rest of the world… it’s “RSS”. Everyone has a “feed” these days and they expect you to know what to do with it! Feeds -be they RSS, Atom, or XML- allow us to “pull” information from the web without having to visit the sites ourselves. It also prevents us from having to go “check” a site for updates because their feed would alert us of any updates.
Feeds are especially useful in the context of blogs, but other popular ways to use feeds include news updates from major news sources, new products at your favorite shops, weather forecast updates, or alerts for when your friends have added pictures to their online collections. It’s like having a private “digest” version of the internet, tailor-made for you. It eliminates time sinks like surfing and allows you to consume information much more quickly than you might have without it.
Although there are many readers, Google Reader is possibility the fastest and most accessible. It’s part of your Google account and can be accessed from any computer online. Not only that, but thanks to Google Gears, you can use it offline too (to read feeds you have already downloaded) and you can integrate it into Gmail using the “Better Gmail” firefox add-on from Lifehacker.
Get Your Google Reader Account Set Up Here
Add/Remove Feeds
Perhaps the most basic and important part of using site feeds is knowing how to add and remove them from your reader.
Add-
To add a feed to your collection (once you have your Google Reader account set up) simply visit the site you want to add in your browser and look for one of these icons (or a similar variation):
Generally, feed icons are orange and look similar the the examples above. Some browsers will “automagically” detect feeds. I discourage using this feature of your browser because many sites use multiple feeds or several versions of one, so it is better to use the feed they display on their page.
Clicking a feed will bring up a page that looks like this (in Firefox).
Just choose “Google” from the list and check “Always use Google…” so that you won’t see this screen again.
Finally, click “Add to Google Reader” and you’re done!
Remove-
In the event that you should like to “unsubscribe” from one of the feeds you added, click the “Manage subscriptions” link at the bottom of the reader.
Then simply click the little “trashcan” icon next to the feed(s) you want to remove.
Browse and Star (using shortcuts)
One of the most important things about a feed reader is how quickly and easily you can process your feeds each day so that you don’t become a victim of “information overload”. In relation to most online readers, Google Reader is exceptionally fast and one of the few that uses keyboard shortcuts.
I use the following method for reading my feeds each day. It takes two passes.
Pass 1 (filtering)
- Open Google Reader and click “All Items” (also set reader to show new items only, next to “Show:” at the top)
- Use “j” and “k” to browse my unread feeds (j=next and k=previous)
- If I think a feed item is worth reading I “Star” it by pressing the “s” key (same as clicking the “star” icon, it toggles the star “status” on/off)
Once I’ve completed steps 1-3 -which should only take a few minutes- I can make my second pass… either right then, or later that day. Sometimes I do not have time to read anything for several days. This is why I use the “Star” tool. I can go to “Starred Items” from now on to find the feed items worth reading. When I go to actually *read* my items, it looks like this:
Pass 2 (reading)
- Open Google Reader and click “Starred Items”
- Use “j” and “k” to open each item and flip through them
- When I’m done with the current feed item I press “s” to remove it from my “Starred Items”
Sharing
Sometimes, while I am reading an item I enjoy very much, I use the email function to send the item to a friend. It’s much faster than composing a new email myself and integrates with my Gmail account which means it’s saving me time!
Beyond This
Google Reader is highly flexible and there are numerous things you can do to enhance your experience. Here’s some you may find useful:
- Better Gmail – Are you a Gmail user? With the excellent “Better Gmail” Firefox Add-on from Lifehacker.com, you can have Google Reader integrated right into Gmail! It feels very natural and helps me consolidate all my data (emails and feeds) into one online interface.
- Better GReader – That’s right… Lifehacker.com again. These guys are somethin’ else. This makes “some welcome GReader tweaks like maximizing the viewing area, skipping Google’s default subscribe mechanism, and adding keyboard shortcuts.“
- Go Here to add your Gmail inbox as a feed to Google Reader (could be good if you use your reader more than email).
- Google Reader Search – Funny though it may seem, Google Reader has no search function! Thanks to Greasemonkey scripts, you can get your search box here.
- Google Gears – If you use a laptop and frequently need to be away from an internet connection, you can use Google Gears to read your feeds while you are offline (plane trip, bus ride, etc).
Stay tuned for my next article and video episode. For more tips and tricks, sign up for the Official Tech-Bites.com Newsletter! You will be the first to know whenever I release new articles and videos and receive special subscriber only articles and product reviews.
