Users criticized this change because there was no way to opt out. In December 2007, Google changed the sharing policy so that items the user marked as shared were automatically visible to their Google Talk contacts. Previously this was done by sending a link through e-mail, directing the user to the shared article or by creating a basic webpage that includes all shared items from a user's account. Items could also be organized with labels, as well as being able to create "Starred Items" for easy access.įrom 2007 to 2011, items in Google Reader could be shared with other Web users. One could then order that list by date or relevance. New posts from those feeds were then shown on the left-hand side of the screen.
Users could subscribe to feeds using either Google Reader's search function, or by entering in the exact URL of the RSS or Atom feed. search in all feeds, across all updates from subscriptions.import and export subscription lists as an OPML file.choice between list view or expanded view for item viewing (showing either just the story title or including a description, respectively).automatic marking of items as read as they scrolled past (expanded view only).a front page that let one see new items at a glance.Some of the features of Google Reader in 2013 were: Led by Google designer Jenna Bilotta, the interface now included a cleaner visual style, collapsible navigation, "Friends" navigation, the ability to hide unread counts, and feed bundles.
#What is google reader upgrade
In late 2008, Google Reader had a significant upgrade to its user experience and design. Reader's interface evolved several times from an early version, described by a Google designer who helped work on the revision as a "river" of news, to various experiences optimized for a wide range of devices, from browsers to the Wii video game console. Įnthusiasts re-created a work-alike replacement called " The Old Reader." Features Interface Instapaper developer Marco Arment speculated that the real reason for the closure was to try to keep everyone reading and sharing information using the now defunct Google+, and that it signaled the end of the era of unrestricted and interoperable web services like RSS from large organizations like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Several petitions were started to keep Google Reader running, including one on with over 100,000 signatures. In response to the planned closure, Digg also announced plans to build a Google Reader replacement, rebuilding its API and adding features to take advantage of the implicit recommendations of social network activity. They gave users a sunset period until July 1, 2013, to move their data and suggested: "If you want to retain your Reader data, including subscriptions, you can do so through Google Takeout." Īfter the closure announcement, Feedly said that more than 500,000 new users had joined them in the following 48 hours, and 3 million in the following two weeks. On March 13, 2013, Google announced they were discontinuing Google Reader, stating the product had a loyal but declining following, and they wanted to focus on fewer products.
In September 2007 product marketing manager Kevin Systrom (later, founder of Instagram) announced that Google Reader had graduated out of Google Labs. In January 2007 Google added video content from YouTube and Google Video to Reader. This also marked the addition of a sharing feature, which allowed readers to publish interesting items for other people to see. In September 2006 Google announced a redesign for Reader that included new features such as unread counts, the ability to "mark all as read", a new folder-based navigation, and an expanded view so people could quickly scan over several items at once. After working at Google he began a similar project with a small team that launched an improved product on October 7, 2005, as Google Reader.
#What is google reader software
In early 2001, software engineer Chris Wetherell began a project he called "JavaCollect" that served as a news portal based on web feeds.