Left Google Reader for rssLounge
Ben mentions he left Google Reader and went back to Liferea, but mentions a series of bugs that keep him from being happy. After pondering it a bit, a couple of months ago I also left Google Reader, but I turned to a free webapp: rssLounge aggregator. Although it does not fully cover Ben's wishlist (I'll get to it now), I am happy using it as it covers my main need: Being able to read my stuff from just about everywhere, without installing even a ssh client (that would make public Windows machines a liability for me, as they could sniff my keystrokes while authenticating to my ssh server). So, for me, a webapp is basically a must.
Well, as for Ben's list:
- MAY be a desktop or web application.
Check. Well, I don't know what would fail this :) - If it's a web application, it MUST be reasonably secure, e.g. it must not be written in PHP.
Fail. It's PHP. And that's my main reason for not uploading it to Debian — I use and enjoy this app every day, but it has some bugs I don't really feel like looking into. And yes, maintaining PHP code is ugly. - If it's a web application, it MUST allow for multiple independent users on the same server.
Don't really remember, I set it up just for myself. But in any case, you could install a different instance per user? - If it's a desktop application, it MUST embed a browser engine (presumably Gecko or WebKit) so I can follow links without having to switch windows.
N/A - MUST support organisation of feeds by folders or tags, including combined item lists.
Pass. - MUST keep track of which items have been read.
Pass. - MUST support a global 'unread items' list. SHOULD only remove items from this list when I refresh it, not as soon as I move away from an item.
Pass. In fact, given that storage is cheap, I have set it to never expire old entries. I don't know if it will ever be useful, but as long as it does not hurt me... - SHOULD support a three-pane (folder/list/item) view or something similar. Google Reader's list view with expanding items is perhaps even better, though it means links must be opened in a separate tab.
It's more like Google Reader's - SHOULD support folder and item navigation by keyboard.
Pass. - SHOULD have some way to flag/bookmark items for later attention.
Pass. - If it's a desktop application, it SHOULD have some sort of download manager to support podcasts.
N/A
So, Ben, with only one (big) fail, it might be a good candidate for you.
PS- And hard as it might seem, I am leading an almost-Google-free life now! :) But don't let them hear this, as we want them to keep sponsoring Summer of Code and DebConf.
- Bitácora de gwolf
- Log in or register to post comments