Google Chrome is getting an RSS feed reader on desktop
ghacks.net
ghacks.net
Being able to display feeds is a nice thing to have in a browser. But a dedicated native feed reader is almost always a better way to go. QuiteRSS handles large (1000+) feed lists well.
A shout-out to NetNewsWire from me. It's perfect.
It would be a lot more perfect if you could force it to push local state to the cloud when it syncs (or vice versa). Automagically applying heuristics doesn't always work so well.
I really need to sit down one weekend and figure out how to make this work (by iterating through DB.sqlite3 and pushing the appropriate entries to Sync.sqlite3... I think...).
The only thing that seems to reliably motivate Mozilla to change their browser is when Google adds a new feature, so I am confident that Firefox will get RSS support again.
Currently actually using Thunderbird for this, since I couldn't find standalone software that I actually liked (though RSS Guard felt close to what I was looking for https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard) and I wasn't looking for an online reader for this, nor did I want browser integration (too many separate browser installs across multiple computers).
Turns out that Thunderbird's built in functionality is pretty much sufficient and works nicely: https://blog.thunderbird.net/2022/05/thunderbird-rss-feeds-g...
Essentially now I have a few folders next to my e-mail accounts and I can read them when I want, the usage mode being surprisingly similar to e-mails (e.g. ignoring an account or two until I feel like browsing them, vs the immediate notifications of instant messaging). Plus, the UI/UX is pretty much regular Thunderbird as well, so nothing new there - it's familiar and usable.
Without XSLT, Firefox displays an ugly XML view and offers no suggestion that the URL might serve any useful purpose.
With XSLT (see mine below), you can make it much healthier, but you're then still the person trying to explain how to use RSS. Browsers used to form part of this protocol handling element.
> “#2: Double Tap - In those moments when you're not sure the undead are really dead dead, don't get all stingy with your bullets. I mean, one more clean shot to the head.”
> https://zombieland.fandom.com/wiki/Zombieland_Rules
Google might be just going to make sure that RSS stays dead, and not just “playing possum”.
The media consumption landscape is too supercharged with quick hit fast-food to support long form profitably.
Can blogs be run non-profitably? Of course, but either the author is time/money rich, or they'll try and hop the influencer train.
Blogging for blogs sake seems to be destined for niche-ness.
I imagine there's a world where Google, still in the RSS space, realized that newsletters were an oddly vibrant market, and were the ones who started alternate-universe Substack.
I personally have my own reader setup but the more options the merrier. That is what makes standard protocols great.
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1. I had thought, why isn’t there an RSS reader that does this now and apparently, there’s no guarantee that the title link in an RSS feed goes to the blog article and not some external link being discussed in the blog post.
[1] only gripe I had with XUL was the use of rdf for backend data representation
I also thoroughly enjoyed that era.
My problem is Mozzarella keeps removing Firefox features that Chrome adds later
Google's decision to have crippled extensions was made in a corporate board room to maximize Google's leverage at the expense of utility for users. So it is tragic and baffling to see Mozilla pantomiming what Google did, since throwing away a far more mature and powerful extension framework benefits nobody but Google.
Google could troll Mozilla by just announcing that they are deprecating local bookmarks (and they may very well do that), and watch as Firefox obsequiously removes bookmarks from Firefox, "to stay modern", and then Google could pull the rug out from under then by not deprecating it.
(And I guess SeaMonkey still exists.)