Many people have been ranting and raving about Google Reader. If the numbers in this article are correct, it seem most of us are now using it. There are still many choices for web based readers. Having been a long time Bloglines user, I decided to give Google Reader a try. I am hooked.

New Year’s Day, I exported my Bloglines OPML list and loaded it into Google Reader. It took very little time to see why Lifehacker thought it was one of the best apps of 2006.

First of all what I like:

• It supports import/export; a requirement for a reader but, in the past, I have run into readers that do not do this. Readers that don’t support import/export aren’t readers.
• It looks nice; crisp and clean. It allows you to easily increase the font size in Firefox. There are even additional tweaks you can do in FF. Here is another I found that I actually like better. Both of the styles I have tried are fairly easy to modify to give you your own personal look. My failing eyesite likes this option much.
• It has many keyboard shortcuts. Far more than Bloglines. My carpal tunnel wrists like this. I especially like the "u" shortcut which toggles full screen veiwing.
• It seems to update more frequently than bloglines.
• It allows one to share items with the click of one button. Others can view them on the web and there is even a feed option. You can even point them to a specific tag such as my lockergnome feeds
• The ability to star items, of course, is a must as is the ability to sort feeds into folders.

Actually there is only one thing I don’t like about the reader. You cannot edit the link to a feed. This means, if the feed link changes, you must delete it and re-add it. All in all, not too shabby but the process could be easier if you could simply change the URL. There are also a few things I would like to see.

It would also be nice if the starred items view kept relevant which tags they have by putting them in a folder in the sidebar. (As Bloglines does.) Unless I missed something, the only way to view the starred items is as one big list. Thinking along the same lines since Google allows us to add multiple tags to a post it would be nice if I could find all my feeds that have tags in a boolean manner. For example; "RSS + Web Design". Maybe there is already some hack out there that I have not found to do just this. If there is please let me know about it.

As I am editing this post I found a few greasemokey scripts that are supposed to allow one to search Google Reader. One is over at Google Operating System and the other is here. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to get greasemonkey to run.

Well Bloglines, it has been fun but things change. I am now officially switched over to google reader and lovin’ it.

PS.

I just found this the other day. (In my Google Reader of course.) View your Reader Trends. I think Usrbingeek may well have made a very good point. Also be sure and add Gordita to your Firefox browser to quickly add Google Reader items to your delicious bookmarks.

The popularity of this reader seems to be making it a self fueling fire. In the days I have been drafting this, almost all of the items I desired have materialized. (Google, if you are reading this, get that folder option in there for starred items.)

Well that is my two cents on Google Reader. Your thoughts and comments are welcome.

[tags]Google, Google Reader, Tags, Readers, Feeds, RSS, OPML, Greasemonkey, scripts[/tags]