Feed Reader Characteristics

An unstructured, non-linear, preliminary list of aggregator features

by Bob Stepno

In response to discussions at Berkman Center weblogger meetings...

This document is an attempt to start a list of RSS aggregator basic and advanced features that I've seen,  read about or wished for. Feature names and details may vary from program to program.  I'd hoped to create a more polished list as the "left column" of a review table, but that task was too big for the time I had available. 

Because I've benefitted from the existence of RSS feeds and aggregators, I'm putting this unfinished list online in case someone wants to pick up where I've left off, get things organized, etc. If you would like to collaborate on something for "print" publication, let me know. There are a lot of aggregators -- and a lot of features -- out there.

Personally, I think cramming too many features into one program could result in software as big (or bloated) as Microsoft Word.  But building a master list of categories may help developers and users sort out what aggregators do or might do.

In some sections below, I use the word "graceful" to describe hypothetical solutions that anticipate user needs, even if only a minority of users are affected, whether that means "only newcomers need that" or "only the most advanced want that." RSS is such a general format that I think the world has room for many aggregator styles, many personal preferences on how to consume feed contents. I also question some of my own categories and add examples of others. None of this is complete or very carefully thought out.

This list really ought to be organized into categories and subcategories instead of just "spewed" out in stream-of-consciousness order, but this is the best I can do right now. Anyone applying categories to a particular browser should note that some categories are not mutually exclusive -- an aggregator that provides its own browser may allow viewing of Web pages in another browser, for instance.

Here goes...

Ease of installation (compared to what? examples? any way to make this less subjective?)

Relationship to other software:
-- standalone aggregators (Feed Demon, Shrook, NetNewswire, etc.)
-- browser-based desktop server; reading and control via HTML pages (Radio or Amphetadesk)
-- e-mail client plug-in (NewsGator, IntraVnews, etc.)
-- chat client plug-in
-- browser plug-in (Pluck, NewsMonster, etc.)
--  aggregator IS a substitute browser (Awasu, Feed Demon, Shrook, etc.)
-- Web based
-- Support for multiple browsers
-- combined with usenet reader

Requires other software
-- Outlook (NewsGator)
-- Explorer (Pluck)
-- .NET (many)
-- Mozilla (NewsMonster)
-- Instant Messaging client (e.g. Trilliam)

Aggregator can be screensaver (Pointcast!) 

Post feed items to weblog
-- required blogging platforms for this feature? (e.g., Radio can post to Radio and Manila blogs; other aggregators or plugins can post to Moveable Type, Blogger or others)

Import and export feed lists (OPML or other formats)

Read (and differentiate between) feed formats
-- support for RDF features of RSS 1.0
-- support for enclosure feature of RSS 2.0
-- support "untitled" items in RSS 2.0 feeds
-- support any special Atom features (such as?)


Presentation formats
-- reverse-chronological order (Radio, Amphetadesk, Meerkat)
-- order items by channel (most three-pane aggregators)
-- user choice between chronology and channel (some three-pane aggregators)

Aggregator feed item display options (e.g. through user-selected or user-created CSS)
-- user choice of display font, size, color
-- user choice of number of items per screen

Filtering (based on channel groups, titles, search, or other criteria; filter items that appear in more than one feed, such as those that appear in both Times "technology" and "business" feeds)

Searching (title or full text, either as filter for reading list or for individual item retrieval)

Grouping (e.g., folders for "international news," "business news," "full text weblogs" from various feeds, allowing user to quickly check "business" feeds on workdays, "recreational" feeds on weekends, etc.)

Categorizing (tag feeds with labels, colors, etc.)

Assign one subscription to multiple groups or categories

Sharing
-- post to blog
-- post to e-mail


Scraping
-- user-created "feeds" from standard websites

Reorder by topic or time (instead of channel, if that is the default)

Gracefully handle both RSS 1.0's required item titles and RSS 2.0's "optional" omission of titles

Gracefully handle both RSS 1.0's required link field and RSS 2.0's "optional" link field (which, in some weblogs, may contain either a link to a full-text weblog item or to a separate site the weblog item excerpts and comments on)

Gracefully handle any "loose" RSS categories that have more restricted counterparts in Atom or RDF (RSS 1.0)

Gracefully handle any advanced or site-specific features in RDF, ATOM or RSS 2.0 feeds, such as:
-- Dublin Core metadata
-- Enclosures
-- Uses of namespaces

Let users choose or design pagesto display feed contents 
-- supplied templates
--custom CSS)

Super-graceful (but unlikely): Optionally interrogate the (expert) user and set special handling for selected feeds. Example: "ShagGregator has found special symbols (<,>,", &, etc.) in the title field of items in this channel; should they be interpreted as HTML markup or text?"

Truncate full-text feed items (after a set number of characters, sentences, bytes, etc.); if so, can user set the length or disable this feature?


Set update times for
-- all subscriptions
-- groups of subscriptions
-- individual subscriptions

Set expiration times for
-- read items
-- unread items

Sychronize subscriptions on multiple computers

Mark "read" items

Mark "delete" items

Mark "save" items

Store status of "read" "deleted" and "saved"  items
--on a remote server
--locally
--both

Autosubscribe or "feed discovery"
-- right mouse menu
-- "subscribe to this" from browser menu
-- desktop icon indicating possible feeds on page

Archive feed contents
-- preference settings for maximum disk space used for archives

© Copyright 2009 Bob Stepno. Last update: 7/27/09; 3:57:30 AM.