Google Reader has been one of the best feed readers out there. At least, that has been my opinion for a long time. Ever since I actively started using RSS, I’ve seen and tested my share of feed readers, from such unknown beasts as Omea (overly complex) and Ziepod (now discontinued?) to Vienna (simple but slick) — and even other web based ones, like Bloglines (confusing) and Netvibes (confusing and ugly).
Google topped them all.
Yet… It won’t come as a surprise that any free web service can be criticized. So, lately, Google Reader has annoyed me as well — not to say more than ever. A couple of pet peeves of mine…
Keep Unread?
Wtf is this? I’ll tell you, it’s yet another useless update, just like Share with Note is, and a major irritation, just like how the top left navigation takes up way too much space and isn’t horizontally collapsible. I know I have Stuff, and Shared Items and Trends… I don’t need to be reminded every time I catch up on feeds.
Offline?
A great feature that you get when you have Google Gears installed is that you can download your unread feeds and still work your way to all 2,326 of them (current count, yes) when there’s no free wifi. The problem, however, is that it doesn’t download any images. That, in these days of embedded video, image-only tumblelogs, and twitpic, is unbearable. Why, since I’m downloading my content, can’t I see these pics in offline mode? Well, I don’t know why, but the result is the same: the feature is as good as useless.
Now, I wouldn’t be a fair critic, if I didn’t help the chaps in Mountain View with a few suggestions. So here.
Rename Labels
Really, not having this feature is ridiculous. I’m one of those users that will eternally change their mind. Now I want labels capitalized, now I don’t. Sometimes I don’t care about assigning categories (a feed is a feed is a feed), at other times I’ll go crazy with them. But with Google Reader, that just isn’t possible.
Share OPML
Seriously, this too is a no-brainer. I’m internet-crazy. I’ve my phone number on the web. I’m as open as open goes. But with GR I can’t share my OPML? Knowing that even Bloglines supports this feature means there is no excuse for not offering it.
Sort Feeds Alphabetically
I’ll accept the fact that I can’t just rename labels (or drag feeds from one folder into the other for that matter) but at least let me have them organized a little tiny bit? Not even deleting all your feeds and re-importing them will do the trick. And for the number one productivity booster, Google, that is one of the biggest no-nos I can think of.
Anything else that irks you? I bet you’re gonna tell me.
Tags: google, irritations, peeves, rants, reader
14 May 2008 at 7:35 pm
That said, all of your complaints are among the same that have been bugging me, though I happen to like “Share with note”.
14 May 2008 at 7:35 pm
Ignore the “That Said”. Proofreading isn’t my strongest of skills right now.
15 May 2008 at 3:15 am
I still choose Bloglines over Google Reader for one HUGE reason. I don’t want to have to click “mark all as read” every single time I go through my list. At least in Bloglines, whenever I click on a feed to read, it automatically marks them as read.
Click and scroll. Click and scroll. No need for any extra buttons.
15 May 2008 at 3:18 am
Also another annoying thing is the endless scrolling. When I see that I have 10 feeds to read. I don’t to scroll past that and read what I’ve read before. The endless reading. I want it to stop at where I have finished before.
20 May 2008 at 7:51 am
Gnorb, np re the proofreading. I do appreciate Share From Anywhere, but an added feature for annotation shared items? I’ve enough trouble trying to keep up with Twitter and Friendfeed. Granted, it isn’t my biggest peeve and the others are way more annoying.
Edrei, thanks for adding. Mind you GR actually does that too, marking items as read as you scroll through them… It’s in settings under Scroll tracking. Check “In expanded view, mark items as read when you scroll past them”, and that includes clicking on them obviously. As for your second issue, that may be a result of your first way of working. Whenever I go back to my reader, I never see items I read already…
31 May 2008 at 2:23 pm
It KILLS me that I can’t rename tags!! Here’s a workaround: Go the the subscriptions page in settings and do a search for the tag you want to rename. Then select all and add a new tag to them. Then go to the tags page and delete the old tag. They really need to make this easier.
31 May 2008 at 2:25 pm
Wow, cool one, thanks. It sounds like an obvious way to go, but it shouldn’t need to be that troublesome indeed. I really don’t get why they never allowed for renaming to just be a primary feature. It’s just frakking weird.
2 June 2008 at 6:09 pm
Since you used the BSG f-word, I thought I’d share this little titbit with you: I’ve been watching an anime from 1998 that at least 3 friends recommended to me. In one of the first few episodes (maybe even the first ep), the villain, who’s on this eye-droplet combat enhancement drug, uses the word “frak”. To be sure, I replayed that scene a few times. I looked up the script on the ‘Net, but it doesn’t match the audio. As far as I can tell, Cowboy Bebop coined frak, and not BSG, as we all assumed (or at least I did).