What to Look For in an RSS Reader

Compiled by: Karen Blakeman, RBA Information Services
karen.blakeman@rba.co.uk web: http://www.rba.co.uk/ blog: http://www.rba.co.uk/rss/blog.htm

The following are the main features that you need to consider when choosing an RSS reader. There are both web based readers and programs for your desktop PC, Mac, mobile, Blackberry etc. The RSS Compendium (http://www.allrss.com/) is a good place to start if you are looking for a suitable application. In general, web based readers have less options and functions than programs that you can download to your machine, but you may not require all of the features mentioned below.

Import/Export feeds to and from other readers

Usually labelled as Import/Export OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language), this enables you to move your list of RSS feeds from one reader to another.

Ability to organise feeds into folders

Essential for organising your feeds into topics, subjects, industry sectors etc. This also enables you to view items from groups of feeds as a single list.

Can you order the feeds and folders the way you want them?

Can you move feeds and folders around and prioritise them or does the reader decide for you?

Views

Can you change or customise the layout of the feed list, headlines display and preview?

Customise how often feeds are updated

Look for options that allow you to set up a default for all of your feeds e.g. every hour, four hours, once a day and to change it for individual feeds e.g. every twenty minutes, half an hour. This is useful if you are monitoring a particular feed for breaking news about a company, product launch or event.

Pause update

Can you pause feed updates for individual or groups of feeds? Are they marked in your list of feeds so that you can easily identify paused feeds?

Search options

Are there advanced search options enabling you to search for terms in your feeds in the subject, header, annotation, source or by date?

Filters/rules to automatically move articles containing keywords to separate folders

You may want to monitor all of the incoming feeds for company names, product names, people etc and have those articles moved into their own folder. This only searches or filters the headline, keywords and extract that is displayed within the RSS feed. It does not search the entire article unless that article is included in full in the feed.

Copy to clippings or separate folder

Useful if you want to collect selected headlines together to keep permanently, send on to colleagues or from which to compile an RSS feed.

Customise how long headlines are kept

Can you define for how long articles are kept by number of days/weeks or the maximum number e.g. 100, 200, 300? Can you define a default for all feeds and change it for individual feeds?

User name and password support

Some news feeds require a subscription and user authentication to access them. Check that the reader supports the feature.

Email headlines/links

Can you easily email interesting headlines or links to friends, colleagues or clients? Can you group them into a single email or does the software send each one as an individual email? Are details and links to the story included within the body of the email or sent as attachments?

Does the reader display the feeds' favicons?

Favicons are the small graphics that sometimes appear next to a URL in the address bar of your browser. Not really essential but when you have a lot of feeds, favicons make it easier to recognise and locate individual feeds.

"Pop-up" alerts

Can you request pop-up alerts for individual feeds to notify you when a new headline has arrived? This can be important if you are keeping a close watch on a company or product launch for example.

Flag/mark headlines

Can you "mark" headlines with symbols or by colour so that important articles are easier to find again.

Mark feeds as read/unread

Can you easily mark whole feeds or folders as read or unread?

"Blog this" or generate a custom RSS feed

Can you easily blog a headline from within the reader or create your own RSS feed from selected headlines. Useful if you compile a current awareness bulletin or newsletter in blog or RSS format.

Synchronize your desktop program and web based reader

Useful if you want to use both a PC and a web based reader. Usually only supported between products from the same company, for example Newsgator, Newsgator Outlook Plugin and FeedDemon.

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