What are RSS news feeds and why are they needed? Review of the best RSS readers. Review of RSS readers - self-hosted alternatives to Google Reader

With which you can aggregate and read RSS feeds, as well as information transmitted via the Atom protocol.

The application allows you to collect news feeds and put them into pre-created categories. To ensure that the user receives the latest materials, it implements the function of updating feeds in automatic mode at the start of the program or after a specified time.

It is worth noting that the presence of your own web browser in this product, thanks to this it becomes possible to view videos contained in feeds directly in the RSS aggregator window, as well as disable or enable images.

Internet
RSS clients

FeedDemon 4.5

FeedDemon useful program, which allows you to aggregate news RSS feeds from various sites. Added feeds can be organized using categories and tags, for example, auto, economics, business, technology, etc.

One of the features of this application is the ability to preset topics that interest you (using keywords), after an article containing the specified words appears, you will immediately see its text in the RSS feed. This way, you can track information that is useful to you and always be up to date with the latest events.

The utility supports searching through added RSS feeds, so now you don’t have to worry about losing previously read news, you can always find it among a huge number of articles. In addition, if necessary, the application allows you to send news for printing directly from the program window.

Internet
RSS clients

BlogBridge 6.7

Don't get confused in the huge amount of news, aggregate and structure them using the free BlogBridge program. This application is an RSS aggregator with the ability to conveniently read collected materials.

BlogBridge is interesting because it works on popular operating systems and allows you to synchronize news feeds on different computers. That is, while at work, you can get fresh materials and continue reading them at home.

Thanks to the software in question, the user can easily find the news he needs, this is facilitated by flexible tools for sorting information. In addition, the program has the ability to use filters that will help filter out useless data.

Internet
RSS clients

Omea Reader 2.2.1

To aggregate multiple RSS feeds, use free program Omea Reader. Thanks to it, you don’t have to visit a lot of resources to find out interesting news, all necessary information will be collected in this application.

However, the product in question is not just an RSS aggregator that collects news; the application allows you to receive email and messages from various Internet instant messengers, as well as carry out teleconferences.

The ability to group received information deserves special attention; you can create groups and sort news from different areas in them (economy, auto, business, technology, finance, etc.).

Internet
RSS clients

FeedReader 3.14

To always be up to date latest news You don’t have to visit your favorite sites every time. All you have to do is subscribe to their RSS feeds, and the FeedReader program will help you do this. Thanks to it, you can collect news from many sites in the window of one program, and when it is convenient for you to read them.

This approach saves your time and Internet traffic, since you no longer have to go to sites you are interested in to get the latest information. New materials published on sites are almost instantly displayed in FeedRider. If the user liked the article and wanted to discuss some topic, he can quickly get to the desired site from the application window.

I present to your attention two wonderful programs for reading RSS feeds. What these programs have in common is that they are portable, you can install them on a flash drive and they will always be with you.

But first of all, you need to understand why these programs are needed in general, if you understand this, then that’s great! If you understand, but not completely, then I recommend reading the article.

NFReader

The RSS aggregator NFReader doesn't have a lot of settings, but that's what makes it remarkable. It is worth noting the following advantages of this program:

1) Simplicity. This is the most important advantage over others similar programs. Even an inexperienced user can understand the settings of this program.

2) It is small in size and does not require installation.

3) Supports export and import of channels using files in OPML format. You can export a single article to an html file.

5) Quite a fast program, not demanding on system resources.

6) Fully Russified.

Among the shortcomings, I would note the following:

1) There is no built-in browser.

2) Does not support attachments.

Although this can be considered a disadvantage, conditionally, since not everyone requires these functions.

GreatNews

The GreatNews RSS aggregator will appeal to those who like great functionality and a large number of settings.

Advantages of this program great amount, here are some of them:

1) There is a built-in browser that allows you to open links in new tabs.

2) You can synchronize with the Bloglines service.

3) Export and import channels using OPML and XML files.

4) There is an interesting option called Blog This, which allows you to post to a blog.

5) There is a Track Comments function with which you can read Comments on an article.

Of the minuses it is worth noting:

1) Not completely Russified.

2) For an inexperienced user It will be difficult to understand the settings.

P.S. Russian language is selected in the settings:

Viev\Language\Russian

After the first launch of the program, you will have to spend a couple of minutes deleting pre-installed RSS feeds (take a look, maybe something will come in handy 8)).

Yes, RSS is not dead and is doing great.

Back in 2013, after the closure of the most popular RSS feed aggregator, analysts predicted oblivion this format dissemination of news. Google Reader closed, but was replaced by dozens of services with improved ergonomics, pleasant design and a wide range of features.

RSS (English Rich Site Summary) - a family of XML formats designed to describe news feeds, article announcements, blog changes, etc. Information from various sources, presented in RSS format, can be collected, processed and presented to the user in a form convenient for him by special aggregator programs or online services. – Wikipedia

Developers and owners of most sites have not given up on maintaining RSS feeds; using them is simple and convenient. This option for reading news can be an alternative social networks and twitter. Yes, imagine that the “tweeting” service has worthy competitors.

Why do I need RSS?

The benefits of RSS wide possibilities applications for reading news feeds. Unlike twitter, you can organize viewing of various sites in the same type with established formatting. If you subscribe to 20 resources, each article will look standard, with the specified font, line spacing and background.

This way you can save time and traffic, and you can also save articles for reading when there is no network. And no one limits the main message to a certain number of characters. Sometimes it is simply impossible to understand what kind of news has arrived on Twitter. With an RSS feed, you can even always see the news you need on your computer screen.

Some will say that RSS is a thing of the past. Possibly, but at this stage it would be foolish not to consider time-tested technology for quick receipt necessary information. It’s interesting to know your attitude towards RSS, what clients you use and whether you see a future for this format.

How it works?

We find the application we like and add sites, blogs or sites that interest us. information portals. Most RSS aggregators find everything on their own available channels for the specified site. Sometimes developers divide feeds by topic, so you can only subscribe to selected areas.

Immediately after the news is published, data will appear in the feed, the application will download it and inform you about it. Depending on the program and settings, we will see a news picture, headline and the first few lines from the post.

We read or save the materials we like for later viewing, and mark the rest as read. If you are thinking about giving it a try, all you have to do is decide on an RSS client.

One of the oldest RSS readers (appendix in App Store since April 2011) has proven itself well, and during its use it has earned every ruble spent on it. To the developer with strange name managed to create almost ideal client for collecting and reading news.

The program has a lot of settings, you can customize the main screen of the program, select a design theme, flexibly configure the reading mode and reassign gestures. Such programs often pay attention to the ability to quickly mark as read several received news items. If you don’t look at the application for a day or two, a whole mountain of sorted materials will accumulate, you can quickly look through the headings and mark the ones you like, the rest will automatically be marked as viewed.

The disadvantages of the program include the price (there is good analogues with a more pleasant price tag) and the lack of a version for iPhone. The author has repeatedly ignored requests from app fans to create a phone adaptation of Mr. Reader.

What will interest Mr. Reader:

the application is time-tested;
a wide range of features and settings appearance;
customizable gesture controls.

Another “old-timer” of the App Store, which since 2013 has already acquired its third full version. The developers relied on a strict minimalist design, but did not forget about the necessary and useful features.

As always, we can customize the appearance of articles in reading mode and set Extra options sort the entire list. The work with newsgroups and the ability to set up multiple accounts deserve special mention. If several people use the application, you can conveniently distinguish between materials for each of them.

It is worth noting that the developers have, of course, thoughtful synchronization in their arsenal. We start reading on the way to work with an iPhone or iPad and continue it on a Mac when we get to the office. Behind quality application you'll have to pay.

What will interest you in Reeder 3:

there are versions for iPhone, iPad and Mac with convenient synchronization;
very nice and stylish appearance.

A relatively new application that appeared already in the “post-Google Reader era”. The developers have completely abandoned various interface elements; the program contains only text on a white background, diluted with pictures from the news. On the one hand, this allows you to concentrate as much as possible on reading, but on the other hand, it is not always clear which menu you are currently in or what the hierarchy of folders and sections in the program looks like.

Moving between sections is carried out using gestures, which made it possible to further simplify the interface and increase the text area on the screen. Unfortunately, ergonomics were sacrificed. Present minimum required settings, some options are purchased separately.

You can find fault with the list of articles displayed that is not the most visual, however, looking at the price tag of the program, you can forgive such trifles.

Why Unread: RSS News Reader will interest you:

the lightest and most minimalistic design;
new ambitious developer;
free.

Initially this service was conceived as how you could add many channels to your account and synchronize the news you read between different devices. By the way, account Feedly supports all the described applications, if you have one, just enter it in the settings and immediately receive materials from all your favorite sites.

After Google closing Reader Feedly developers have released their own mobile app and try to keep up with the times. All useful iOS features are reflected in this client, there is support split view and an app for Apple Watch.

Behind last couple Over the years, Feedly has acquired a solid set of features and settings. If you tried to get used to this client several years ago, but failed due to the lack of one or another feature, be sure to try the application now.

What Feedly will be interested in:

V last years the application has acquired big amount opportunities;
some original options displaying a list of news;
free.

The most unusual application in today's selection. Flipboard organizes all the news from your feed into a glossy magazine. Articles will be arranged in chronological order, reminiscent of printed layout. The application will pay more attention to some publications, group others into a column, and still others will appear as headings. Looks very cool and stylish.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time I’ve tried to start using Flipboard, but it’s its varied design that always confuses me. Frequent page-turning animations and chaotically scattered materials turn from a highlight into a problem. When viewing large quantity news, it is difficult to concentrate; a lot of time is spent focusing attention.

If you need an unusual client for viewing small amount news, feel free to choose Flipboard, the program will not only show articles from the specified site, but also recommend thematic resources in selected areas, and here you can connect twitter and Google+ to track the feed in application format.

Why Flipboard will interest you:

stylish and unusual design;
selection of news by topic;
browsing social networks;
free.

My choice

One of the first iPad apps I purchased was Mr. Reader. Several years ago, this aggregator reigned supreme in the RSS reader niche and gave a good head start to its competitors. Already at that time, the developer managed to come up with and implement most of the features that are now the norm for such programs.

Then I was captivated by the appearance of the program and ease of use. This is achieved through fully customizable gestures. For example, you can move between articles with a vertical swipe, jump to the beginning or end by simply clicking on the right or left, etc.

When you get used to using such an application, you simply don’t want to switch to another. Unfortunately, the author did not want to release a version of the client for the iPhone, and on a smartphone he had to be content with other analogues.

One of the most useful tips Mr. Reader I think fast switching between page display formats. The buttons for this are located at the top in reading mode. The same news may look different in RSS format, web version or design of one of popular applications for offline reading. You can visually compare all the options, choose the appropriate one and remember it for the site you read.

RSS technology has long been used by Internet users to receive news from different resources. RSS aggregators– these are programs or web services that allow you to read RSS feeds of different sites. RSS aggregators are often called RSS readers. Sometimes you can come across the phrase: RSS reader.

Many people prefer to use software RSS readers. Some people use readers built into the browser. It’s more convenient for me to view the RSS feed in online reader services. The main advantage of such services is that you do not need to install any additional programs to your PC. All added feeds in the service account are updated automatically. All that remains is to read their contents at a time convenient for me.

Having tried many different online RSS readers, I have selected my favorites:

Google Reader
Reader from Google. It has everything for comfortable reading of tapes - convenient, fast, customizable. All on native language. Ability to export and import RSS feeds to an OPML file. I didn't notice any downsides to the service. My choice.

Netvibes
Handsome and functional service. What sets it apart from many RSS reader services is that it has a completely customizable appearance. You can change the language, skin, text color, location, number and size of blocks. Lots of settings to help you customize everything.
It is also possible to export RSS feeds to OPML, but not to import.

Newsgator
A fairly convenient RSS aggregator with typical structure. Clear interface, despite the fact that the Russian language is not supported. It is possible to import RSS feeds into an OPML file. Among the disadvantages of this RSS reader:
— There is no possibility to export tapes.
— Low operating speed.

Yandex.Lenta
The readers themselves guessed from whom.
The reader interface is simple - in the Yandex style. It is possible to import OPML files. There is no option to export tapes. Everything is in Russian.

NewsAlloy
Quite a high quality reader. Everything is done in light colors. There is export of tapes to an OPML file, but no import. Another disadvantage is that there is no support for the Russian language.

Bloglines
A fairly well-known online RSS reader. The service seems to be normal, but it seemed to me that the usability is lame. You cannot import and export a list of RSS feeds and there is no support for the Russian language.

Summary.

Online RSS readers – useful tool, which saves time and traffic. Many users prefer to use them instead of visiting many sites. Of course, I could not test all the services, since there are quite a lot of them. If you find something interesting that could be added here, let me know. I also ask you to take part in the survey: “Which RSS reader do you use?” I also advise you to subscribe to receive new posts from this blog via RSS.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. This article will focus on the question - what is RSS and why is it used? mandatory should be used on your Internet resource. In general, this abbreviation means Really Simple Syndication, which translated means “Very simple acquisition of information.” The designation Feed is also very often used ( feed).

The essence of this name comes down to the fact that you are given the opportunity, in a form convenient for you, to follow the appearance of news on dozens and even hundreds of sites, blogs and forums. To say in one word what RSS is is not so simple, despite its apparent simplicity, and, accordingly, there will be a series of posts about everything related to this format.

In this section I plan to talk about what it is, how to activate it and configure it on a particular engine, how to set up its broadcast through, and then add it to various aggregators and catalogs, as well as how and the best way to read news feeds.

If you answer the question of what RSS is from the point of view of a webmaster (the owner of a web project), then we can say that this thing helps a lot in attracting additional visitors. By adding beautiful and eye-catching icons or a subscription button to your resource, you will encourage visitors to click on it, thereby acquiring an audience of regular readers.

What is RSS and why you should add an email subscription

We will talk specifically about what it physically is at the end of this article, but now I want to touch first of all on the question - what does a subscription to the site’s news flow provide and what opportunities does it provide for both users and owners of web projects.

In other words, why will you definitely need to put a subscription icon or button on your resource immediately after its creation, and why will it be convenient for users to subscribe to RSS feeds and view them in their readers?

It’s all about the convenience and timeliness of receiving information about the release of new materials on Internet projects of interest to users. Once you subscribe to the sites you are interested in, you will no longer need to go to them in order to see if anything new has appeared there.

As soon as a new article or commentary on an article that is important to you appears on a web project that interests you, you will immediately find out about it (through your favorite reader), if, of course, you have subscribed to the news flow of these resources in advance. Comfortable? Undoubtedly!

But, unfortunately, for a number of reasons, subscription and reading news in readers has not yet become as common and common an activity as reading Email(only every tenth user reads news streams in a specialized reader). People are quite inert and are not very eager to study and understand something new. This is exactly what happens with RSS readers.

Take a closer look, you will almost always find something like this on blogs. "RSS to E-mail" or the like (for example, at the top of the page on the right is the inscription “Receive updates by E-mail”, and at the bottom of each post there is a corresponding form for entering E-mail.

This is implemented, as a rule, in one of two ways: either through the above-mentioned “RSS to E-mail” service, or through online service FeedBurner (I provided a link to the manual just above). These are, of course, half measures, because... When reading by E-mail, you are deprived of the lion's share of the conveniences that a specialized reader provides you.

But it’s better than nothing at all. For example, out of 7,000 users subscribed to the site’s news flow, more than half receive newsletters by E-mail, and do not use any reader for this.

Icons and buttons, as well as protection from RSS Grabber

Now let's see what the news flow looks like. To do this, you don’t need to have an e-reader at hand; you just need to find the corresponding icon or button on the page of the resource that interests you. As a rule, webmasters try to make this icon noticeable and catchy (a typical color for it is orange).

If you want to find and download a button to subscribe to the RSS of your site, you can use any resource; there are plenty of them on the Internet.

It is very important that your button is large enough big size, had a catchy, but at the same time not repulsive appearance. It should be placed somewhere at the top of your resource(on the first screen). On blogs, it can most often be seen at the top of the right column (sidebar).

This is where your visitors will look for this button when they want to subscribe to your new materials. Therefore, you probably shouldn’t be original - place a catchy and preferably original icon in its usual place, so as not to complicate the life of visitors.

Free-rss-icon-list

By the way, on various internet In projects you may come across the so-called Feedburner counter(it shows the number of currently subscribed visitors), by clicking on which you can read and, if desired, subscribe to the news feed.

My feed acquired this look thanks to broadcasting the RSS feed via Feedburner, which provides a lot of tools for customizing its appearance and not only its appearance (look for the link to the manual at the beginning of the article). But more on that later.

Now I want to focus on one key point, which each owner of a resource with an active feed decides in his own way. The question is: how to protect yourself from Grabber, which extract the texts of your feeds and publish them on slogs (a blog automatically filled with content stolen from feeds) and other GS (go... sites).

In principle, an option that can help here is not to publish in the feed full text articles, but only the beginning, so that the reader can read the ending on your resource. As you can already see, the blog feed site is just a cropped version (I don’t want to give thieves easy way use my content).

However, I am not an ardent supporter of this method of distributing RSS feeds and it is possible that I will soon publish the full text of articles in order to create convenience for reader users.

In support of the trimmed version of the news stream, one more argument can be made, in addition to protection from Grabber: after reading the beginning of the article and becoming interested in it, the user will click on the link and continue reading on your web project, which will increase its traffic and, possibly, increase earnings on contextual advertising(work with YAN through Profit Partner is described).

Among the negative aspects, the following can be cited: the user does not have access to the Internet at the time of reading the article (and sometimes simply does not want to go to your resource when there is still a lot of unread news from other websites in the reader) or simply the habit of reading news exclusively in reader. Which forming method to choose is up to you.

Perhaps it’s also worth talking about what the RSS format essentially represents. It is a standardized data format of the XML family, like html. But it has strict restrictive rules, which makes it very convenient to disassemble it automatically.

Moreover, this format has the main goal of transmitting content, and this leads to cutting off all sorts of excesses, such as: design, various scripts, styles used. In fact it's crystal clear content- a dream for owners of a slow or paid per megabytes downloaded Internet connection (.

How does it work? Simple enough. The content of your feed is entered into the database, and the reader of the user subscribed to your newsletter goes to this address and downloads all the contents of the feed. Subsequently, the reader begins to periodically, depending on how the user configures it, contact the same address for updates.

If updates are found, the reader will immediately let the user know about this with a pop-up window or in some other way (it all depends on the specific reader).

So, to summarize: RSS is a very convenient thing that will help save us time and traffic, and will also allow us to always be aware of the news we are following. This is from the reader's point of view.

From the site owner's point of view - This is an invaluable tool, without which full development and advancement is impossible. Here is the answer to the question I posed at the beginning of the article - why do you need to fence off this entire garden?

Using this technology and format is very easy, you just have to try it. About the use of RSS in practice, about possible settings for various engines, about setting up feed broadcasting through Feedburner, about which aggregators you should add your feed to, and about which readers are best to get acquainted with feeds, I will tell you in this section.

RSS readers (readers)

Readers are distinguished by an enviable diversity. There are programs that will need to be installed in your operating system. Some browsers, for example Opera, also allow you to read news feeds. But there is also a whole galaxy of readers that you can use online without installing anything on your computer.

Compared to software readers, online readers have a couple of advantages - they do not need to be installed and can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet, and such readers can constantly automatically aggregate news from all sites to which you are subscribed (as a result, you simply go under use your login to such a reader and see everything new that has appeared since your last login).

Let me give you a list of online readers that you can use for your needs:

Yandex Tape is one of the most popular readers in RuNet. Exists special button from Yandex, so that your visitors can subscribe to your RSS feed directly through Yandex Feed (there is a description of it).
Google Reader- an almost ideal reader, which, unfortunately, has already closed. The entire world community is deeply saddened by this.
Netvibes - has a huge number of settings and rich functionality.

There are a lot of programs for reading feeds and your choice will not be so simple. I myself do not use such programs, so I cannot advise anything specific. Sorry.

Good luck to you! Before see you soon on the pages of the blog site

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