Google Reader – First Glance Review
Here comes another Google project, the Google Reader. Google Reader is an online feed reader (e.g. Bloglines), which let you subscribe to website feeds (RSS or ATOM) and read them online.
Google Reader makes it easy to find and subscribe to online feeds to help users organize and stay up-to-date on the ever-increasing amount of web information they consume on a daily basis.
The product features a clean, easy-to-use interface and includes a comprehensive feed finder, multi-media feed displays, and algorithms that can assist users with automatic content prioritization, plus easy sharing capabilities with email and “blog this” features.
Google Reader review
First of all, you get a familiar user interface like Gmail. I feel that the design is “big”, I mean, there is many space. Like Gmail, the Google Reader is using AJAX and support keyboard shortcuts. It is quite slow to load the page, but much faster than yesterday when it is newly launched.
Subscribe new feed
You may search for content and subscribe to the available feeds. However, the search result is not same as Google Blog Search. You may also submit feed URL to subscribe in Google Reader, it also support feed list in OPML format.
Read feeds
It takes more steps to read feed on Google Reader. First, select subscribed feed from left sidebar. Then, Google Reader load feed entries titles in left sidebar and right column display the content. Click on a entry title, the list will scroll to the selected title and display the entry content.
Beside mark the entry as unread. On the upper right corner of content column, you have the options to unsubscribe the feed, send the entry via Gmail, or blog it using Blogger.com.
Others
Like Gmail, you can create custom label to organize the feeds categories. Also, you can star an entry for future reference.
My two cents
I was excited to know about Google Reader. But the longer I am using it, the more disappointing I am. Google Reader is not ready yet (yes, I know it is new baby).
Other Google Reader review:
REVIEW: Google Reader
