{"id":1153,"date":"2009-09-24T11:56:26","date_gmt":"2009-09-24T18:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bibik.org\/blog\/?p=1153"},"modified":"2009-09-24T11:56:26","modified_gmt":"2009-09-24T18:56:26","slug":"byline-is-worse-than-google-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bibik.org\/index.php\/2009\/09\/24\/byline-is-worse-than-google-reader\/","title":{"rendered":"Byline is worse than Google Reader"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m a huge RSS fan and scan at least 500 articles a day. \u00c2\u00a0The Google Reader desktop site is my go-to as the usability is enormous. \u00c2\u00a0 Clean design, snappy page loads, infinite scrolling lists, keyboard shortcuts and more make for a really painless experience.<\/p>\n

On the mobile side, I’ve ended up using the Google Reader Mobile site. \u00c2\u00a0 I tweeted awhile ago about wanting a version of Google Reader that supported Gears. \u00c2\u00a0 Pretty much the only thing that trips me up on the mobile site is the loading times. \u00c2\u00a0If it was Gears-enabled, I could have it sync up automatically, effectively killing the loading times. \u00c2\u00a0 Otherwise, the mobile site is fantastically efficient and meets all of my primary use cases. \u00c2\u00a0 Google knows the use case for reading RSS feeds on the go will be different than sitting down at a desktop. \u00c2\u00a0The biggest difference is the need to digest news in smaller quantities.<\/p>\n

On the desktop, the site lets you pull up every article from a feed and can even mark as read once you’ve scrolled past it. \u00c2\u00a0You can organize your feeds by tags or folders but I’m a fan of just reading each feed\u00c2\u00a0separately. \u00c2\u00a0 I process the information better if it is not coming from multiple sources at once. \u00c2\u00a0The mobile site also lets you read per feed and by default, shows 15 articles at once. \u00c2\u00a0 Fifteen is a reasonable default as it accounts for slow cellular data and supports the chunk approach to reading. \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0If I have scanned a headline and do not want to read the article, I definitely want to mark it as read. \u00c2\u00a0 I can scan fifteen headlines in a few seconds and go on to the next chunk. \u00c2\u00a0 If something else grabs my attention, I can just mark the ones I’ve scanned as read. \u00c2\u00a0 My mental model (“I have seen this article and don’t need to see it again”) and the software model match making the mobile site a breeze to use.<\/p>\n

I had the pleasure of vacationing in Hawaii recently and thought I’d try an iPhone app that does offline syncing. \u00c2\u00a0Five hours on a plane and I’ll get sick of my current book or Nintendo DS and thought catching up on my RSS feeds would be a good use of time. \u00c2\u00a0From current reviews, it seemed like Byline would fit my needs best. \u00c2\u00a0It does offline syncing, supports syncing with Google Reader and was quoted as having a blazing fast interface. \u00c2\u00a0Unfortunately, I forgot to set it up until I was at the airport. \u00c2\u00a0No wifi = no article caching. \u00c2\u00a0 I can’t fault Byline, I screwed up. \u00c2\u00a0 A little dejected that I impulsively spent $5 on an iPhone app (don’t laugh, $5 is considered high-roller territory in the iPhone app world), I gave up on Byline until I returned from the trip.<\/p>\n

I fired Byline up once I was back in the confines of a home replete with wifi. \u00c2\u00a0 So, it’ll only grab the most recent 50 articles? \u00c2\u00a0 It won’t let me view by feed? \u00c2\u00a0My first impressions were of confusion and confirmed I shouldn’t have spent $5. \u00c2\u00a0Once I decided just to take a look at the crappy “50 most recent, no sorting” view, the really whammy hit. \u00c2\u00a0 On the Google Reader Mobile site, it’ll feed you a list of articles. \u00c2\u00a0You can see the full headline and if there’s space, a snippet of the article itself. \u00c2\u00a0 Clicking on a headline expands that item, showing the full article and any associated pictures. \u00c2\u00a0As you scroll, the rest of your headlines are still there. \u00c2\u00a0You aren’t taken to another page. \u00c2\u00a0 In Byline? \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Clicking on an article takes you to a new page. \u00c2\u00a0You either have to hit back to go to the full list or you’re given up and down arrows to move to the next or previous item. \u00c2\u00a0 This is _terrible_ for reading feeds. \u00c2\u00a0I don’t want to use the up and down arrows because I’m not sure I want to read the full article. \u00c2\u00a0I just want to see the headlines. \u00c2\u00a0 I don’t want to use the back button as there is a perceptible delay every time you change views. \u00c2\u00a0To make matters even worse (yeah, this is getting bad), Byline doesn’t even show the full headline. \u00c2\u00a0 It crams as much as it can into a two line list item. \u00c2\u00a0If the headline doesn’t fit, it gets trimmed. \u00c2\u00a0Just trying to _read_ feeds is tiring:<\/p>\n