Google Reader gets a major overhaul
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Google has launched a major revamp of Google Reader, their online RSS reader. I think this upgrade moves Google Reader from what I would call a sub-par RSS reader with cool features to the top of the RSS reader mountain.
NewsGator Online was previously my favorite RSS reader before Google’s upgrade. I still think it’s a great reader, but take a look at it versus the new Google Reader and you can immediately see how much more friendly on the eyeballs Google Reader is. Also, NewsGator’s method for adding new feeds is way too clunky – especially when you compare it to Google’s.
One thing I can’t figure out about the new Google Reader is the whole folders thing. They used to exclusively use tags (previously called Labels) for managing your subscriptions. Now they seem to use both folders and tags. On the Manage Subscriptions page you’ll see that your Labels have been converted to Folders. If you had more than one label that feed will be in more than one folder. But you can’t add new feeds or modify existing feeds to be a part of multiple folders. If, like me, you love using Google Reader on your homepage or mobile device, the Labels are still their for both. And you can still edit the Labels at the bottom of each entry (you can still have more than one tag for a subscription), but now they are called Tags. I would have liked to see a little less confusion around that, but I’m not going to complain too much.
I’m also disappointed that Google, the king of AJAXy online apps, doesn’t allow you to drag-and-drop your subscriptions if you want to change their folders. Why make me go to the Manage Subscription page when I could have just dragged my subscription up a folder?
UPDATE: I forgot to mention the new Share feature. It’s just a quick “Share” button at the bottom of each entry that automatically populates a webpage of your shared stories. This puts it in direction competition with Del.icio.us, which can only be good for us consumers. Del.icio.us is great, but people seem to do a lot more with Google APIs so I expect to see some cool stuff created around these shared pages really soon.
Now, if they would just work that Share button into the mobile (or Google homepage) version of Google Reader I would be able to read from my news from anywhere and quickly add stuff to my Shared page. Like the idea of that.