NewsGator Online - Review

Ratings

• Ease of Use:    3

• User Interface:     4

• Performs as Described:    3

• Overall:    3

Overall I found NewsGator Online to be a very well put together  tool that performed well under pressure.   There were a few things that did not work as I expected but I liked the layout and the ability to customize my view to match my preferences pretty closely.  Check out the user guides that I have posted over the past few months for more information.  Here is a brief list of some of the Pros and Cons for NewsGator Online: 

Pros

1.    The ‘My Clippings’ folders really lived up to the billing in that they provided a space that I could move items or posts to save for reading later.  They allowed for greater organization and reduced the overwhelming feeling that can sometimes be associated with the high volume of posts that are distributed over the web everyday.  Also once the folders are setup it is very easy to use. 
2.    The more I used the tags the more I liked them.  The main reason is because I could see all of the posts that I had tagged within a certain category, like Economy.  I did not have to look through my clippings folders to find what I was looking for.
3.    The Subscribe in NewsGator Online toolbar button is a quick and easy way to add new feeds to your NewsGator account.   It takes just a couple minutes to setup and mere seconds to use. 
4.    Overall the Smart Feeds tool or Keyword search is a very good tool if there is a topic that you really want to keep up to date on without having to search the entire web yourself.  It scours the web to bring you exactly what you are looking for.
5.    Another Smart Feeds feature that I thought was amazing was the Email feeds.  This gives you a specialized email address through NewsGator.com that you can enter into sites that send out email notifications or newsletters, like stores or organizations.  This allows you to have all of your news in one place.
6.    The today page is not unlike the headlines page found on other tools; however I thought it was very clever how NewsGator brings tidbits from places that many people rarely view and stories about things things that you may not have thought to look at.  I found that each time I went into NewsGator I was compelled to take a look at the Today Page before looking at the feeds that I had setup. 
7.    Even though it takes some time to get used to the new folder creation, once created the folders are logically setup and easy to use.  They follow the normal tree or folder list format that you would find in an email client like Outlook. 
8.    Adding feeds is pretty straight forward and there are several options with which to search and add feeds.   There are even several suggested feeds that you can use to try out the tools or even to add to your own list of feeds.

Cons

1.    It was difficult to delete the feeds that were added under the automatic subscription section.   I found that NewsGator Online would remove the folder when I deleted them but when I added additional feeds it would throw them back into the tree.  To overcome this I would have to log out and log back in
2.    Some of the feeds discovered under the “Find Feeds” tool did not allow for easy selection of the top level feed, such as Top Stories on ESPN, and it tried to get me to select one of the lower level feeds, such as Football.
3.    Adding folders seems cumbersome because it will take you to the Organize Folders screen within the Settings Menu.  I expected it to be more like Outlook where you can right click, select add folder, type in the folder name and ok and then it is in the list.  Especially since you can drag and drop once they are created.  Even though the NewsGator Online format seems like it takes more steps it really does not.  It is simply different then I was used to.  Once I got used to selecting the “Create New Folder” link from the Organize Folders screen, I was ok.
4.    I am not sure that I like that the overall unread items number rolls up through the ‘My Clippings’ folders.  The way that I use these folders it does not seem necessary to have the unread items, but it could just be personal preference.
5.    The thumbs up and thumbs down part of the today page did not seem to really do anything.  I did not find that it changed what kinds of stories (items or posts) were brought in.  I also was not able to find any reference to this any of the documentation.  So other then being just something fun to click to state your opinion….I still am not real sure what this does.  I would love it if it learned from your input and only brought you what you wanted to see though
6.    NewsGator seems to be built to run on Microsoft products.  It works great with Internet explorer but there are some inconsistencies in Firefox and Safari ( I did not try Chrome).  It does not always work as expected in the other web browsers, for example if you have the hide folders option on, when there are no new or unread posts in the folder it does not hide but stays visible in the folder tree.
7.    In the Tags section I thought it would be better if there was a drop down list that you could choose your tags from rather then having to type them in every time.  Also Tags do not appear in any other NewsGator tool so if you tag something it will not be available in FeedDemon or NewsGator Inbox, you will have to use the My Clippings tool for universal accessibility.  Also it would be nice if the Tag cloud was omni-present throughout the reading windows of NewsGator so you can easily select one of your categories with just one click.
8.    Subscribe with NewsGator Online toolbar button – I did not like that I had to be physically signed into NewsGator Online with it open in a tab for this function to work.
9.    On the Smart feeds there was really no way to tell it to search for posts in just one or certain languages.  For some topics that I put in it retrieve hundreds of posts but I was only able to read a few because I am only bilingual. 

The Rating System

Now that I have reviewed the inner workings of a few RSS readers, I feel more confident in developing the criteria by which to rate the online services and tools that I will review. 

I have broken it down to four categories.  This way we will keep in simple and easy to understand.  The categories are:

• Ease of Use
• User Interface
• Promised Performance Vs. Actual Performance
• Overall Usability

Also I will use a number system from one to four in order to grade each service or tool.  I went with a scale of four because lets face it in a scale to five the three is just like an ambiguous area that you choose when you do not want to make a decision.

Now that we have our rating system, you can expect that I will start posting a rating for each online service or tool once I complete the full test drive.  Look for them under the category heading ‘Review’ on the right column.   

FeedDemon – Prefetching

If you like to work offline, you will really find this next tool very useful.  FeedDemon has built in a tool called Prefetching that will basically download links and images for each of your posts so that they are all available for you to review when working offline. Basically what it is it goes out and gathers all the information that you might need for each post.  As I said this includes images and links.  The really interesting part though is the links.  If you have prefetching setup you will be able to visit external links without an internet connection or working offline. 

As with everything in FeedDemon, there are several ways in which to setup (or deactivate) the prefetching option.  The first option can be found under the File menu (for more info on the file menu see the post “FeedDemon - File Menu”).  Click on File and then on ‘Prefetch Items for Offline Reading…’.  This will launch a new window which has a way for you to manually Prefetch Unread Items.  From here you can add a couple of options.  The first allows you to include your flagged items in the prefetch.  This is because typically the tool would only perform the prefetching for unread items.  The second option will take you offline once the prefetching is completed.  These are both check boxes (reminder, checked means enabled).  On the bottom right you will see a button for OK and one for Cancel.  As you would expect Ok activates prefetching and Cancel closes the window.   At the bottom left is another button labeled as ‘Options’.

The options window has two tabs.  The first is labeled ‘Settings’ and has tools that allow you some control over the tool.  At the  top you can set the maximum number of items that you want to prefetch.  The default is 500, but you can adjust it to any number between 1 and 2500.  The larger the number the longer it will take to complete the prefetch.   Another option available at the top tells FeedDemon to skip over posts that are above whatever size you indicate.  The default is 256 KB but you can reset it to any size between 16 and 999 KB.  By overlooking larger files the prefetching will go faster.  The last option on the Settings Tab allows you to setup the prefetching function to run automatically when you open FeedDemon or when it runs its normal updates.   The default has it set to follow the manual process described above.  Please note that if you choose to have the Auto-prefetch enabled it may slow down your normal feed synchronization, this is because it has to download more information off the internet to support the offline viewing. 

The second tab, Feeds, gives you the opportunity to select exactly which subscription folder(s), or clipping folder(s), you want to prefetch.  It also gives you more granularity because by  opening each folder you can select only certain feeds that you prefer to prefetch.  There are a couple of extra buttons to help you here too.  These are pretty self explanatory at least the bottom two which select all the feeds and clippings or none of them.  The one at the top is for Options and only activates when you have selected a folder or a particular feed.  This set of options opens another new window with three additional options.  From here you have the ability to select with folders or feeds will prefetch images and/or links.  The default is that it will for each folder/feed that is selected to prefetch.  The other option here will let you select the number links that will be downloaded per post with the default being 3, but you can choose any number between 1 and 99.  Once you have finished your configurations you can click Ok and close the window.  This will take you back to the manual operation window. 

The other way to get to the Prefetch options, which is limited to that specific feed, is to right click on the feed from your folder tree or subscription list.  Then select Feed Properties and go to the ‘Advanced’ tab.  From here you can set the options specifically for the feed that you chose from the list.  Towards the bottom you will see a  check box that says Include in prefetch, again checked means it is enabled.  There is also an options button below that.   The option window opens which has the same options as I described for the folder level options in the previous paragraph. 

FeedDemon – Send RSS Feed with Clippings

As I was reviewing the Clippings function within FeedDemon, I ran across an interesting tool.  You have the ability to setup your own RSS Feed that you can share with all your friends, your family, your teachers, anyone really.  It is simple to setup and easy to use.

The first thing that you have to do is decide which  existing Clippings folder will generate the RSS feed or you can create a new one.  For more information on creating Clippings folders check out my last post.  The setup is basically the same either way, the main difference is entering the properties screen.  If you are going to setup an existing folder simply right click on that folder and go to the bottom of the menu and select Clippings Folder Properties.  If you are going to create a new folder simply right click on Clippings (or on an existing clippings folder) and select New Clippings Folder from the list.

Once you are in the properties window all you have to do is make sure that the check box for “Share as an RSS feed” is checked.  This will automatically make the folder a shared folder and it will be capable of generating RSS Feeds. You will also notice that now there are three little hyperlinks to the right.  The first one is View and this will give you a look at your feed (assuming that you have some posts within that folder) in you  default internet browser.  The next option is Copy and this will copy the link to your RSS Feed to your clip board so you can paste it in an email or anywhere else you want.  It will look something like this:  http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/svc/ClippingsRSS.aspx?uid=1988367&fid=34551702 .  The last hyperlink option is Email.  When you select this, FeedDemon will automatically launch your default email client and will automatically populate the email for you.  Here is an example 

I've created a "shared clippings folder" in FeedDemon, which enables me to easily share my favorite links. If you'd like to subscribe to it, just enter the URL below in your favorite RSS reader:

http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/svc/ClippingsRSS.aspx?uid=1988367&fid=34551702

Thanks!

Now you can send it out to everyone you know.  Once you send this to your friends or family or whomever you choose, they can put it into their favorite feed reader and will begin to receive an RSS Feed based on the articles or posts that you place into this clippings folder.  You get to play editor and chose what is important to you or what you think others what to see.

Next time I will take a closer look at the Pre-Fetch Function.

FeedDemon – Clippings

Just to finish out the series and follow the theme, today I took a look at the Clippings function within FeedDemon. This is very similar to that found in the NewsGator Online version (for more info check out an earlier post, NewsGator Online – Review (Cont’d) from Feb 23rd, 2009). Between the flagging options and the Clippings function, FeedDemon makes it easy for you to keep or identify articles that you want to read later, re-read at another time or save for something or time in the future.

The Clippings function is very easy to use and follows the same logic as the Subscriptions and the Watches. As with these other tools there are multiple ways to add a new clipping folder. You can go through the File Menu and then select the sideways arrow pointing right next to Subscribe. Then select New Clippings Folder from the list. For the second option you will need to have the Subscribe button as activated as a part of the toolbar over the folder tree (or subscriptions) section. Then simply select the down arrow next to Subscribe and New Clippings folder from the list. Another way is to right click on the Clippings main folder or any existing clippings folder and select New Clippings Folder from the list. The last way is when you are looking at a post. You will notice in the list of icons that allow you to manipulate the posts there is a small square looking icon with a round top (hint it looks like the icon for the clippings folders that you have already created). When you click on this icon you can tell FeedDemon where to store the post (which clippings folder) or you can create a new folder.

When you add a folder there are a couple of options that you will need to complete in order for your new folder to work the way that you want it too. The first thing you have to do is give the folder a name. Then you can select whether you want this new folder to be the default clippings folder. What this means is it will be the first option when you send a post to clippings and you will have to manually select if you want the post to go somewhere else. The next option is to have this folder synchronize with NewsGator Online. This allows you to have your clippings available anywhere that you have internet access. The last option is to setup this new clippings folder to share your posts as an RSS feed. I will review in more detail in the next post. The one thing that I have had trouble with is getting my folders on the Dell to sink with the online version and then re-sync with FeedDemon on the Gateway. I was not sure if it is something I had configured incorrectly or something with the technology. Turns out if you make a change, like delete a folder, in one FeedDemon and then sync it with NewsGator Online it will sync up fine. However if you then go to another computer after the sync the folders you deleted in the other FeedDemon will still appear but the sync option in the properties screen will now be deactivated. So Changes you make in one FeedDemon have to be duplicated in any other instance of FeedDemon that you use.

So adding posts to your folders is pretty easy too. As I said earlier you can select the clippings icon on the post and select the clippings folder you want to add it to. The other option is available if you have the Show News Items option activated (See the post Show News Items from June 17th 2009 for more info). You can drag items from this list to the folder that you want to save them in and a copy will be saved in the clippings folder. It works a lot like email the only difference is that the original post stays within the feed folder as well and a copy is placed in your clippings folder.

Next time we will look at the RSS function from the clippings folders.

FeedDemon – Watches

We have briefly skimmed over the Watches a couple times in previous posts, but we have never really jumped in with both feet. Today we will look at the capabilities built into this function and how easy it is to use.

As is indicative of the other tools in FeedDemon there are multiple ways with which to setup a Watch. The first is to go through the File Menu. Then select the sideways arrow next to Subscribe and then select New Watch. The second way would be, if you have the Subscribe button activated on the toolbar over the Folder Tree (Subscriptions) section simply select the down arrow next to the word Subscribe on the toolbar and select New Watch. The last way is to right click on the word Watch in the Folder Tree and then select New Watch. All three of these options will bring you to the same place so it boils down to a matter of preference for how you want to start.

Once you have selected New Watch a new window will open. This is basically the configuration window. The first thing you will do is name this particular watch. The title box is a text box so it can be as long or short or complicated or simple as you want it to be. Below the Title box are two more boxes, one you can type in and one you can’t. The one you can type in is where you will enter the keywords that you want FeedDemon to search for. The second box holds the keywords and activates them. Once you enter a word in the first box the Add button to the right will activate. By clicking Add you will make this keyword part of the criteria and it will move to the lower box. If you decide that there are words that you have entered that you no longer want as a part of this Watch simply highlight them in the list and click remove. The will then disappear and be removed from the criteria.

On the right hand side you will find several options that are either activated or deactivated based on the checkmark box next to them. Just a reminder that checked is activated. The first set tells FeedDemon to search for the keywords that you defined in the item title and/or in the item description. If you want it to search in both the title and the description you will have to select both. If you only want it to search the title (or just the description) then you will have to check one and uncheck the other. Below that you will find more options. The first tells FeedDemon to match the case (so caps or non-caps) for the keywords that it finds and return only those that have the same case. The second indicates that you want FeedDemon to look for whole words and not just return any post that might have part of the word that you are looking for. The last option tells FeedDemon to show you posts that have all of the words you have listed in your criteria. If all of the words are not present in the Post description or title depending on how you setup the options above, then these posts will not be pulled into the Watch. The last item on this window allows you to set when the Watch should archive. Depending on what you are looking for it might make sense to go with the default of 300 items, however if you have a subject with a ton of web traffic you may want to limit the number even lower. You have full control over the number though as long as it is between 10 and 2500 items.

To make changes to your Watch is just as easy. Once you have it established all you have to do is right click on it in your folder tree and select Watch Properties from the list. Then you are back at the screen described above and you can make whatever changes you need to. Also when you right click on the Watch you will find that you can Mark it Read, Disable/Enable it, Re-Run it, and Delete. All are easily accomplished with a click of the mouse.

The one drawback that I see to this tool is that it only searches through the Subscriptions or Feeds that you already have. It does not return any posts from the internet or other sources. I guess we have internet search engines for that, but it would be nice if it would pull in a few posts of the net because you may find additional sources that you had not considered before.

Next time we will do a quick review of the clippings just to round out the series.

FeedDemon – Views

As with the majority of tools within FeedDemon, you have full control over your views. What I mean is that you have the ability to change how you see your Folder Tree or Subscriptions list. There are a couple of ways to access the different views that are available. There is the standard functionality where you go to View and then highlight ‘Views’ which will present you with a drop down list of options. The other way to see your options is to activate the Views tool on the Folder List section toolbar.

The default view is the Folder View. This maintains the traditional folder tree layout with the top level folder called Subscriptions and is followed by each of the folders that you have created to hold your feeds. To see the feeds in each folder you have to expand the folder by clicking on the arrow to the left of the folder. All of the folders will be visible in this view. The second option would be a modified Folder View. It will be the same as the Folder View except that it will only have folders listed that have unread items in them. In either view, each of the folders will indicate the number of unread items next to the folder name.

The next choice changes views a little bit. Rather then displaying all the folders you have in your folder tree, this option will go one level lower and displays each feed for which you are a subscriber. This is followed by a choice to only show feeds that have unread items. So this option decreases the number of feeds listed to simply include only those with unread posts. This is followed by an option to filter on feeds that have flagged posts. Once selected, this option will show only the feeds that have a post that you have marked as flagged. As with the folder views, regardless of view selected, each of the feeds will indicate the number of unread items next to the feed name.

The last option is to do a keyword view. This is not as intuitive as you might think. I was expecting it to be like the watch tool and provide all the feeds for whatever keyword I enter. This was not the case however. What it really does is just look through the names of your feeds for the keyword that you enter. For instance if I want to see just the BBC feed, I would enter BBC in the keyword search. FeedDemon would then put all of the feeds that have BBC in the title in the folder tree or subscription list for me to review. I can see practical application for this if you have a large number of subscriptions and you would quickly like to navigate to a certain feed without manually searching. However it seems like it would be more powerful if it were more like a keyword search that yielded all of the feeds that have that particular keyword within one of the posts.

A couple of items thing to note: regardless of the view that you pick you will still see your feeds on top, then your watches and then your clippings. Also none of the views actually change how you see your watches or your clippings. As I have stated throughout this post, no matter which view you pick, the feeds or folders with unread items will always be indicated by bold lettering and the number of unread items listed to the right of the name. Lastly any feeds or folders that have flagged items will always change the feed or folder name to appear in red rather then black.

Next time we will look at setting up watches.