Google Reader is retiring as of July 1st. I am sure this isn’t the first time you have heard this news. The announcement created a bit of an uproar leading to panic for lots of blog/site followers. I must admit I went through some sort of grief. From shock to disappointment, followed by some anger and resentment that had me giving my google reader the cold shoulder. But then I put things in perspective and realized I wasn’t punishing google I was simply missing out on all the great content published by my favorite blogs. So, I entered the recovery stage and started my search for a new ‘reader’.
All you need to do is type “google reader alternatives” into your search bar to get some reading material and comparisons for other rss readers. Which I did. News Blur, Feedly, Net Vibes, and Pulse were the top four I read through. While all of them have individual pros and cons, I settled with Feedly. And I am pretty happy with the decision.
Feedly automatically transferred all of my google reader information and we were all set up. The clean layout, customization, and design are the top reasons I settled on Feedly.
My reader Homepage
Reading through my reader.
You can see I have 6 categories that break up my readings and I can choose to read ALL unread posts, all categorized unread posts, or individual site posts. This feature cuts back the time I spend each day reading through the content. The organization is key for me, otherwise I would spend hours looking through the awesome content people are putting out there.
They also give you the option to change your theme. I stuck with the default “Modern Gray” but there were a couple contenders that I might give another shot.
Mint
Clean White
Blue Gray
So along with the clean features, I really jumped when I was given options on how I would like to read the content. With 5 options ranging from just the title to the full article I went through and realized you can make these setting for all the content or go through and individually customize your reading options for each blog you read. So all of this took me about an hour to get a feel for and I am sure I will continue to mess with the settings and everything. It’s like new adventure.
So if you are on the hunt for a new reader, I would suggest you check out Feedly.
