Sat 17 Sep 2005
The internet is and endless source of information. But it can be difficult to keep up with the constant flow of news. The simple task of checking for new articles at 20-30 websites each day is a very timeconsuming task even if you use bookmarks. And with the invvention of blogs, the number of websites that would be interesting to follow each day has multiplied several times over.
This is what RSS feeds, also called syndication, sets out to overcome. It is a way to tell a special reader program what is new at a website. The most common way to list up new articles is in an e-mail like format. But what reader should be used? There are three main types.
Plug-ins for well known programs or web browsers
If you prefer to minimize the number of applications you need to keep running, you might want to see if there are any plug-ins available for one of the programs you already have. Outlook, Internet Explorer, ThunderBird and Firefox are only some of the programs that have plug-ins available. Check with the respective websites for each of these programs to find the plug-ins or do a search on the net.
Stand-alone programs
This is where you find most of the heavy, feature rich, programs although you also find programs that focus on being simple and easy to use. Some of the programs in this category are amphetaDesk, FeedDemon, FeedReader, NetNewsWire, SharpReader and Straw.
Web based services
If you are a real cyber nomad than keeping it on the net is a good thing. That way you can access your feeds no matter where you are and you can use any tool that can display webpages. You are not restricted to one operating system, you do not even have to use your own computer. Any computer connected to the internet will do. Even your phone if it has a browser like Opera. If you want to look at some of these services, you can check NewsIsFree or Bloglines. These are only a couple of examples. Try a search to find more.
My own choice (so far..)
I have tried many different systems and they all have they good and bad sides. I like to be able to download the feeds to my laptop so I can read them later. This rules out the web based services. I also prefer to have as little functions and plug-ins in a program as possible. In my experience this leads to faster respons times and more stable programs. So when I find something new, I check their webpage first, and if it look like it might outperform the one I am using at the moment, I download it and try it out. I never go for a new program that does not have OPML export/import. This is a format for exporting and importing the list of feeds you subscribe to. And it makes it very easy to switch from one reader to another.
After a tip from a friend, I decided to take a look at a program called RSSOwl. So I downloaded it and ran the installer. It was quick and easy and everything seemed ok until I was going to start it up. I got a short glimpse of the and then nothing. Tried again and same result. The solution was to clean out the old versions of Java on my pc. I had three versions and RSSOwl needs at least 1.4 to run.
As soon as this was done, I was able to start it up and use it. And the first thing I did was to import my feeds. RSSOwl comes with a set of feeds pre-installed. But you can change this, delete them or add to them. Your import ends up in a separate folder so it does not mess up the list you already have.
The interface is a typical three split setup that is quite usual now in RSS readers and mail programs. It is easy to navigate and understand.
The formats that are supported, and the possibilities to export to among others PDF, and all the ways you can customize it makes it a powerful program. But I am not in RSS nirvana yet. I have started to subscribe to a couple of podcasts and want my RSS reader to handle that. This is something RSSOwl still is lacking. It will show you the feed with a link and when you click the link it will open the player for that format and play it. This is ok as a workaround, but podcastsupport should be on top of the list of features that should go in there.
One of the features that really got me singing and dancing was the possibility to search a website for feeds. Sometimes when I know there should be a feed on a site, it seems to be impossible to find. If there is a link or icon for it, sometimes this drowns among all the advertisements and other clutter on a page. RSSOwl has a feature called “Discover NewsFeeds on a website” and it really works. Open it, type in the URL of the website and hit search. The feeds pop up and you can choose to import them into your list or save them as an OPML list.
There are many more features that could be mentioned, but I am not trying to do a complete review here. I just want to share a few things and recommend that you test the software for yourself. I sent an e-mail to the man behind RSSOwl, Benjamin Pasero, and asked him a few questions that he was kind enough to answer.
There are many RSS readers on the market now. Why did you decide to make another one?
Well RSSOwl is already two years in age. So, when I began with RSSOwl, there were not that many free readers available. Actually my intention was not in creating another newsreader, but in finding a project I could learn some Java/SWT with.
Why did you choose to base it on Java?
Because its a very intuitive language and with Eclipse, the best Java IDE, has very good tooling as support. With SWT, the native GUI library RSSOwl and Eclipse are using, you can’ttell that RSSOwl is a java-based application.
Why should I choose RSSOwl over the competition?
First of all, RSSOwl is freeware and opensource with 2 years of constant development. It is translated in more than 25 languages and some key-features are:
- support for RSS, RDF, Atom and OPML formats
- Export to PDF, RTF and HTML
- Integrated Feed-Search-Engine
- Highly customizble
- Runs on Windows, Linux, Mac and Solaris
- small, fast and leightweight
- more features here: http://www.rssowl.org/overview
Does RSSOwl support downloading of podcasts? If not, when will we see that?
Not yet. Podcasts are offered as download inside the news. Better podcast support is planned for the future.
How many people are using RSSOwl today?
I do not have exact numbers, but RSSOwl is downloaded ~ 15.000 times per month.
What features can we expect in the next release of RSSOwl?
Next version, which is 1.2 and about 1 month from the release, has better Toolbar support, Atom 1.0 support, and searchable preferences. The current status is written here: http://www.rssowl.org/dl/Integration_Build/changes_in_1_2.txt
You can also find a good article about RSSOwl on Sourceforge Project of the Month and of course at RSSOwl.org .
