Comment by vanderZwan | Hacker News Reader

Comment by vanderZwan | Hacker News Reader

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> So I don't know what's with all this "Google killed RSS". Google didn't kill RSS. Twitter, Facebook and RSS' "geekiness" that made sure it never crossed that "chasm" into mainstream usage (and what doesn't grow will probably die, as nothing is constant) are what killed RSS.

If you ask me, it's the combination of browsers and websites not properly exposing the existence of RSS that has stunted its growth.

Firefox used to have a button for subscribing to any RSS feeds it found in a webpage in the navigation bar. It was the only browser that did it (EDIT: that I was aware of - others have pointed out Safari also had this feature for a while), and it was a fairy obscure button too. Then they removed that.

So now you actually have to hunt for the RSS feeds - and since many webpages use a gif saying "RSS" (meaning text search is useless) that isn't always easy.

It's not difficult to use at all, but it is certainly a very obscure feature of the internet. That halts adoption.

The button still exists, though you may have to add it yourself. Right mouse > Customize.

Done. Thanks!

> Firefox used to have a button for subscribing to any RSS feeds it found in a webpage in the navigation bar. It was the only browser that did it

I'm pretty sure Safari did this as well - it was removed in Mountain Lion.

Apologies, I should have said only browser I used (Linux & Windows user)

Opera did it too. Opera mini for lowly java feature phones did it too.

Agreed, the RSS feed can be really hard to find on many sites.

There are lots of decent external apps, but I'd guess that most of today's web audience prefers consuming in the (already familiar) browser. Seems the situation might be a golden opportunity for someone who's got the chops to take advantage.

Have you seen how Newsblur handles it (including the bookmarklet)? It will automaticalyl search for a feed if you point it to a website and suggest one, and give you a subscription option if you use the bookmarklet. That's already a huge leap forward in my opinion. I'm sure there's other feedreaders doing similar things (and if not the competition should make them catch up soon enough).

Safari had a button for RSS as well. Not sure why they removed it.

That said every single blog I've ever seen has a prominent RSS button. But that isn't the reason for lack of widespread adoption. It's more to do with the fact that most people aren't dedicated "read this every day" consumers of lots of different blogs. Generally it's a small handful which isn't what RSS caters for.

It's obvious why they removed it. It was a weird feature that didn't belong in the browser. Users didn't understand what it was for. (I use RSS and I still didn't understand why I would ever click that button.)

>I use RSS and I still didn't understand why I would ever click that button.

If the current page is a blog, and you want to subscribe to the blog in your RSS reader. (When you go to use the button, it asks you to pick a reader and also gives you the option of making that reader the default choice for the next to you want to use the button.)

Are you saying that a bookmarklet would work just as well?

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