Short micro non-RPG geek post.
Many of the people who read blogs do so through Feed readers (there are a ton out there, I use Google Reader myself, plugged in my iGoogle page). When this blog gets accessed by this feed here it’s considered to have 1 subscriber. (BTW I’m aware that image are weirdly aligned on the feed. I think that’s because a hack was done to have them look good here. We’ll see if we can address this in the blog’s next version).
If you’ve never been exposed to feeds or feed readers, here’s a pair of links:
- The Wikipedia definition of a RSS feed.
- Google’s video tutorial of Google Reader
I like using feed readers because I get notified of new content on my reader without having to hunt each and everyone of my sites of interest (especially those who don’t update often).
At its simplest you can click on my feed here and just bookmark it.
Well for the 1st time since I activated that feed in late November, I have had more than 100 subscribers for 3 consecutive days (it’s at 108 as of Thursday morning). Wow! Thanks for sticking around everyone!
In fact, this site here says my blog is now worth between 300 and 600$. Woot, I’m calling Century 21! 🙂
There are other feed readers and I’d invite you all to share your favorite ones.
See you later tonight!
I still use Bloglines.
I tried Google Reader, Bloglines, and NewsGator (the 3 big online ones), and wasn’t happy with any of them. NewsGator was decent, but had no free way to get update monitoring on my desktop, Bloglines had interface issues that bothered me, and all three had problems updating. Google Reader was the worst for this, to the point that it would notify me of updates 6-10 hours late.
It was so bad that I found myself checking the sites consistently, and just marking everything as read when it came up on the reader, thus defeating the entire purpose.
So I decided I didn’t really need an online reader, at this point.
I tried a lot of free clients, some decent but missing key features, some utter crap, and found RSS Bandit. I’ve been using it for some time, and am quite happy with it.
Though NewsGator has just released its client reader programs (FeedDemon for windows, NetNewsWire for mac) for free. And those clients sync with NewsGator’s online platform. So I think I’m going to give FeedDemon a try, and decide once and for all.
(RSS Bandit’s next update is supposed to make it a valid syncing client for both NewsGator Online and Google Reader, so that might also work, but we’ll see.)
Congrats on 100, Chatty DM. Don’t get too comfortable though – I still intend on winning that bet for an ennie nomination (technically we could both win).
About readers…
I switched back to bookmark because I spent too much time reading when I was notified of new articles in real time!
I use Opera’s reader, personally. It gives me an email-inbox-type view. I prefer it to reading all of each feed’s items at once.
GOOG’s reader works well for me, plus the mobilized version is the fastest/easiest method of keeping abreast of your feeds no matter where you are: at the restaraunt, at the stop light or on the commode.
RSS Bandit is great if you’re very familiar and comfortable with the Outlook look and feel for managing mail in folders. It’s author is Dare Obasanjo, one of the smarter Microsofties around, here’s his blog: http://25hoursaday.com/weblog/ , must be good with almost 55,000 readers of his feed!
The benefit of using a web based feed reader of course is you don’t have to carry around your OPML file to all locations that you use the reader (home, work, on your PC and laptop…).
BTW Phil, it appears ‘commode’ is a french word, I did retain some French I guess, though the meaning in french is different than how English has adopted it so it may not count. C’est la vie.
The fact that I know what a OPML file is worries me…
I’m looking at RSS bandit and I must say that I like having an online reader…
But then again it is an impediment to productivity…
As for your use for Commode… well I had never read or heard it used like that…. In French it’s definitively:
“a low cabinet or similar piece of furniture, often highly ornamental, containing drawers or shelves.”
Are your telling me that some Brit or American once had a dump in his socks drawers and that’s how Commode started to also mean a toilet?
Crazy Anglo Saxon… 🙂
I tried Google Reader, but I was overwhelmed… sometimes I just don’t feel like reading everything, and it would just pile up waiting for me to read it.
I started using Firefox’s Live Bookmarks; I like it because I don’t feel overwhelmed with everything, and I don’t have to go visit the site to see if there’s anything new.
LOL! That was a good one Phil.
Johnn four’s Newsletter (and the ensuing Stumbling upon) has grown the Subscribers to 129 in 4 days…
Let’s sell out now!! I’ll divide the proceeds between all commenters!
Should be enough for a slurpy each!