RSS Feed Reader Comparison

For my RSS feed reader comparison, I looked at Google Reader and the Sage add-on for Firefox. I had used both of these applications before, but have long preferred Google Reader for its ease of use, organization, and appealing look. I do use an aggregator on a regular basis, so I will look at both applications and try to explain why I have chosen one (Google Reader) over the other (Sage).

To begin, I added everyone’s blogs to my Google Reader, organized into a folder specific to our course, and then did the same with Sage. I toyed around with the various features of each, to get a feel for the application’s power and customizability.

Mozilla’s Sage is an extension to the Firefox web browser, and as such is immediately integrated into one’s browsing experience (provided that experience is done through Firefox). My recent switch to Chrome, then, would have necessitated a change in aggregator if I had not already begun favoring GReader (see below). Two problems I ran into with this trial run of Sage were the clumsiness of its layout and a bug, which caused the Sage toolbar to take up a 2 x 6 in. immovable square space near the top of my browser. Though I was able to fix the latter, with difficulty, I still found a great deal lacking in Sage’s ability to organize feeds into groups. Though it is possible to put one or more feeds into folders, this process works much in the same way as Firefox’s bookmarking toolbar: it works, but I wouldn’t call it pretty. One thing I did like was the organization of the browsing window (when a feed is selected), which places the feed’s most recent posts into a nice table. Another problem, however, is Sage’s ability to display content: text and hyperlinks work, but videos do not display properly, if at all, in the feed browsing window (I was unable to view Fallon’s video post without clicking over to her actual blog-space).

Google Reader, on the other hand, is a sort of aggregative dream in comparison, though admittedly I am biased in its favor. It does not, as far as I know, have the ability to integrate into one’s browser, but it is far more powerful in terms of organizational tools, sharing features, and general options for customizability. Those familiar with other Google applications, particularly Gmail (Umail, eh?), will have no trouble acclimating to GReader’s style. Also unlike Sage, Google Reader is an application that functions, self-contained, within its own window. Once one is signed into Google and using this aggregator, RSS feed links automatically direct one back to this reader for subscription and organization. The feed organization pane is to the left of the main browsing frame, and it is easy to drag-and-drop new and existing feeds into new groups (though renaming requires toggling to the settings menu). For the most part, video and other media work well within GReader, though I have noticed some videos decline to show up after selecting the individual post, especially with longer videos. I am especially fond of how easy it is to share posts with others, provided you have established “following” relationships, and the comment system that enables conversation within your GReader community. There is even a feature that allows one to share, via bookmark, individual webpages and stories that are not fed into the aggregator itself. To top all this off, there are a number keyboard shortcuts available (try, while in the application, pressing g + u; navigate with arrow keys), and this number is growing with each update.

Overall, I have found Google Reader to be well-ahead of Sage in nearly every point of comparison. It is customizable, well-organized, easily searchable, and interactive. I use it daily. Sorry, Sage.