1. nvda@nvda.groups.io
Topics

Helping to make an Edge/Chrome RSS reader accessible

Amir
 

The Old Reader is free for up to 100 feeds and offers a Premium version with full-text search and up to 500 subscriptions and 6 months of post storage. The free tier also includes sponsored posts from time to time. It's also worth mentioning that with web-based feed services such as The Old Reader and Feedly which I've tried, updates don't come as fast or spontaneous as stand-alone readers which do the fetching of headlines and articles on their own. So if speed is a factor for you, web-based services are at least several minutes and at most an hour behind.
 
Best,
Amir
Brian Vogel
 

On Sun, Aug 9, 2020 at 02:19 PM, Amir wrote:
updates don't come as fast or spontaneous as stand-alone readers which do the fetching of headlines and articles on their own.
-
My guess is that this is directly dependent on the default sync intervals each is using.  For many pieces of software like these, it's configurable so you can make the checks either more or less frequent.

Given that I do not use any of the things mentioned, this is based on experience with pretty much anything that has sync intervals, including e-mail clients.
 
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1909, Build 18363  

A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.

          ~ Oscar Wilde

 
Cristóbal
 

So, now I had to look it up. It looks like I was indeed grandfathered in at the $2 a month.

What will you get with The Old Reader Premium?
- Full-text search
- Faster feed refresh times
- Up to 500 Subscriptions
- 6 months of post storage
- Instapaper and Readability integration
- Early access to new features

What will it cost?
The Old Reader Premium will cost $3/month or $30/year. However, for the next 2 weeks (or up to 5,000 accounts) we’ll be offering the service for $2/month or $20/year and we will lock you into that price for a minimum of the next 2 years. This is our way of saying thanks to our existing users and hopefully getting the Premium service off to a great start.

This post was back in 2014 so I guess I’ve been saving that extra buck for the past four years or so… Yea me.

Again though, you don’t have to pay.

Do I have to upgrade?
No! 90% of our users can continue on for free just as they are today. However, users with more than 100 feeds will need to upgrade to premium. Otherwise, all functionality will remain available to free accounts. We also offer a 2 week trial period for the premium service and will even allow that trial period to get extended for those still interested in moving to Premium.

https://blog.theoldreader.com/post/76417559063/the-old-reader-premium

I’m sure there are other services out there that offer similar features with paid and free tears, so it’s not like these guys have some sort of special sauce or anything. This is simply the service I’ve found to cover most of my needs. I am a heavy RSS user with multiple devices that I may use throughout the day to keep up on the news.

The Old Reader’s even got keyboard commands similar to how Twitter.com and Reddit.com an a lot of other web based programs have. I don’t particularly make use of them, but they’re there if that’s your thing as well.

 

Cristóbal

 

From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
Sent: Sunday, August 9, 2020 10:59 AM
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Subject: Re: [nvda] Helping to make an Edge/Chrome RSS reader accessible

 

On Sun, Aug 9, 2020 at 01:41 PM, Amir wrote:

I feel I shouldn't have to pay $2 or more per month for a service

Is this for the premium service, or basic?   I'll admit the website isn't good about discussing this, but when I attempt the "Sign Up" process it mentions a 14-day trial of premium.  On a lot of these "premium versus basic" situations the cost is only if you want the premium features.

That would be good info to have.
 
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1909, Build 18363  

A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.

          ~ Oscar Wilde

 
Amir
 

That's the case with stand-alone RSS feed readers -- you can even set the refresh rate to "1 minute" with many of them, and, of course, you can refresh manually whenever desired. However, web-based readers such as The Old Reader and Feedly don't give you such a fine-tuning especially with their free tiers. The Old Reader clearly mentions that the Premium tier allows for faster refresh rates although I don't know how fast it might be. That's why they're not suitable for me especially for work-related tasks. Even with Lire on my iPhone I tend to use it in Stand-alone mode so as to get faster refresh rates without having to be limited by the dictates of its supported web-based services.
 
Best,
Amir
Brian Vogel
 

On Sun, Aug 9, 2020 at 02:44 PM, Amir wrote:
That's why they're not suitable for me especially for work-related tasks.
-
I have no idea what you do, and the following is not aimed at you, personally, but if "within the hour" is not fast enough, then that's a business I don't want to be in.

As a former software developer I learned to despise artificial deadlines, and also learned that 99 times out of 100, "It will still be there tomorrow, possible for multiple tomorrows," applied to so-called time critical tasks.

I got out, among other reasons, because there was never time to do it right to begin with, but always plenty of time to do it over just so long as something, anything, was presented by someone's designated deadline that was completely disconnected from actual need.

One of my favorite quotations, whether you liked the source or not:

     I reject get-it-done, make-it-happen thinking. I want to slow things down so I understand them better.

             ~ Gov. Jerry Brown

Most times, you can slow them way down, and get a far better solution/result.

Sorry for getting all meta on everyone.  It's a hot and lazy Sunday afternoon.

 
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1909, Build 18363  

A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.

          ~ Oscar Wilde

 
Amir
 

<LOL> -- very interesting. I fully understand your perspective but if you work as a journalist and operate in a newsroom, you have to be able to receive timely updates for everything including speeches, election results, explosions, pandemic updates, resolutions, etc. That's why my work-related RSS feeds are updated every 15 minutes in Internet Explorer (the minimum value allowed), and many times I also refresh a couple of them in 5 to 10-minute intervals.
 
Best,
Amir
Cristóbal
 

I won’t argue on which version, be it standalone or web based is faster at feed refreshing since that’s beyond my knowledge.

The only thing I’d say to that though is… tradeoffs.

I mean, I work from home and am on some sort of device all day. Be it a PC or my iPhone. I’m not saying that refreshing an RSS feed every minute or what have you isn’t essential, but is there a huge difference between one and 5 minutes? If something’s so urgent, there are other methods to get that info almost instantaneously like push/email alerts via an app either on one’s phone or PC that are probably better suited for those types of scenarios.

The flexibility that this or I guess any other web based service allows for things like sharing, synchronizing, saving etc in my opinion are worth the possible 4 or 5 minute delay as opposed to a stand alone solution.

For example, the wife and I do retail and wholesale arbitrage. While I do have some RSS feeds for deal sites, I use other methods like push and email alerts and other bot-like solutions to get notified of price drops and or sales/liquidations. I would not rely or even expect RSS to be able to keep up with that constant change.

Someone mentioned Smart RSS earlier. I remember GHacks reviewing this program a few months ago. Funny enough, I came across the review via my feed entry on The Old Reader. Looks like the commenters weren’t overly impressed by it. https://www.ghacks.net/2020/03/10/smart-rss-reader-is-a-feed-reader-extension-for-firefox-and-chrome/

And to reiterate one of the original points, The Old Reader is completely screen reader accessible.

 

Cristóbal

 

From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
Sent: Sunday, August 9, 2020 11:58 AM
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Subject: Re: [nvda] Helping to make an Edge/Chrome RSS reader accessible

 

On Sun, Aug 9, 2020 at 02:44 PM, Amir wrote:

That's why they're not suitable for me especially for work-related tasks.

-
I have no idea what you do, and the following is not aimed at you, personally, but if "within the hour" is not fast enough, then that's a business I don't want to be in.

As a former software developer I learned to despise artificial deadlines, and also learned that 99 times out of 100, "It will still be there tomorrow, possible for multiple tomorrows," applied to so-called time critical tasks.

I got out, among other reasons, because there was never time to do it right to begin with, but always plenty of time to do it over just so long as something, anything, was presented by someone's designated deadline that was completely disconnected from actual need.

One of my favorite quotations, whether you liked the source or not:

     I reject get-it-done, make-it-happen thinking. I want to slow things down so I understand them better.

             ~ Gov. Jerry Brown

Most times, you can slow them way down, and get a far better solution/result.

Sorry for getting all meta on everyone.  It's a hot and lazy Sunday afternoon.

 
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1909, Build 18363  

A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.

          ~ Oscar Wilde

 
Amir
 

Unfortunately that doesn't cut it for me although I understand the benefits. When I'm at my computer and hit Refresh, I fully expect to get the latest articles not what the web-based readers might dictate. And if you happen to depend on the speed aspect for work, such an access becomes more essential. Honestly I don't share the articles -- even the ones I read for leisure. Even if I do, I share them via email which works well with Internet Explorer. Nowadays even most Edge/Chrome RSS extensions also support full-fledged article sharing so that's a nonissue if the need arises. I also use Lire on my iPhone for RSS stuff. It supports full-fledged sharing and its stand-alone mode truly rocks.
 
Best,
Amir
Akash Kakkar
 

David,
Yes, the folders got created and the feeds were in there.
But no articles at all.
I manually syncronised everything but no luck

On 8/10/20, Amir <mobilespace08@gmail.com> wrote:
Unfortunately that doesn't cut it for me although I understand the benefits.
When I'm at my computer and hit Refresh, I fully expect to get the latest
articles not what the web-based readers might dictate. And if you happen to
depend on the speed aspect for work, such an access becomes more essential.
Honestly I don't share the articles -- even the ones I read for leisure.
Even if I do, I share them via email which works well with Internet
Explorer. Nowadays even most Edge/Chrome RSS extensions also support
full-fledged article sharing so that's a nonissue if the need arises. I also
use Lire on my iPhone for RSS stuff. It supports full-fledged sharing and
its stand-alone mode truly rocks.

Best,
Amir
Vincent van Itallie
 

I've used theoldreader for qa few years as described in this subject.
However I started to use inoreader from now on because of their automation options.
It is far from accessible but I am trying to do somesugguestions via their support team.
I use inoreader on windows 10 with a app called myreader, you can get it from the win 10 store.
Only issue I have is that It wo'nt read the name of the site the article comes from.
You have a simple listview and with a keystroke you can open each article in your webbroser of cchoise.
You can start articles from the ap and so on.

-- 
  Vincent van Itallie



On Sun, Aug 9, 2020, at 8:14 PM, Cristóbal wrote:

Don’t know what to tell you, but at least for me, it’s not all that complicated. I’ve got my feeds sorted nicely into folders that are all displayed on one page. First it’s the folder then the individual feeds below it. I can view all feed entries by folder or feed. Oldest to newest and vice versa. Have them shown as a list view or full article. Share an article to Facebook or Twitter (in my case, I don’t have these services connected for this option), Save to Instapaper or Pocket or share  via email. Again, you don’t “have to pay). There is a free option. Paying the nominal amount is to unlock bonus features, be able to retrieve a larger number of feeds  and again, to support the service. I recall a few months ago a new RSS service based out of Germany being talked about. Like a lot of other services, they touted their privacy-centric approach, but again, they were web based and also had free and paid options. Who’s to say their assurances aren’t any better or worse about data privacy than any other random add-on or extension…

I did try using Outlook’s built in RSS feed for like five minutes and that  was a no go for sure. No structure or easy way to navigate by topic etc.

I’ve had my share of hopefully so far unsuccessful  attempts to get into my accounts too. A password manager, 2FA wherever possible, etc is a good idea regardless of what service you may or may not use.  

 

Cristóbal

 

From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of Amir
Sent: Sunday, August 9, 2020 10:42 AM
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Subject: Re: [nvda] Helping to make an Edge/Chrome RSS reader accessible

 

Cristóbal, it's mostly a matter of taste although I feel I shouldn't have to pay $2 or more per month for a service when stand-alone extensions can do the job and Internet Explorer has been propelling it for many years. Moreover, with email I also tend to use Thunderbird rather than the web interface. Unlike you I feel finding information, or even a single feed hidden in a folder when you have more than 100 feeds, via the web interface is much more cumbersome and time-consuming than utilizing a stand-alone app. Finally -- and as someone who has been the target of hopefully unsuccessful Apple and Gmail hacking attacks, I guess it's much more important than you portray. At any event and as you rightly said, to each their own.

 

Best,

Amir
Amir
 

So what happens if you have several feeds from one single website. Is it possible to place all website-specific feeds under a single branch or tree view? Or will all articles belonging to all feeds be presented together? If the latter, it'll make handling feeds and articles quite cumbersome.

Best,
Amir
Hope Williamson
 

So what happens if you have several feeds from one single website. Is
it possible to place all website-specific feeds under a single branch
or tree view? Or will all articles belonging to all feeds be presented
together? If the latter, it'll make handling feeds and articles quite
cumbersome.
    This is called the river of news format. It's the way most modern
RSS readers do things unfortunately. In fact, it makes your RSS reader
look more like Twitter, than an RSs reader.

    I tend to call the better way, the feeds list format." As in
there's a list of feeds, and articles from a particular feed are
displayed when you click on a feed from that list. OK OK, so that's the
more old-fashioned way of doing things, but it works well.
Hope Williamson
 

Wow, no kidding, I haven't had any luck using Inoreader ever!! Not only
that but the limits are ridiculous.
William
 

I use ifttt plus gmail, in that way you will not be restricted to either particular rss client

Amir 於 8/8/2020 15:00 寫道:

Greetings,


If you are into RSS feeds and feed subscriptions, you most likely know that Windows suffers from a paucity of accessible RSS readers. Internet Explorer offers an accessible RSS reader, but accessing articles in IE is quite problematic these days given the age of the browser itself. Thunderbird offers a good one, but it doesn't work the way a standard reader should operate in many ways. So I decided to see if I can find a good and stand-alone, I mean service/subscription-independent, RSS extension for MS Edge Chromium/Google Chrome as they have become quite popular. I tested a few readers but landed upon Smart RSS which, despite its accessibility shortcomings, sounds more promising: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/smart-rss/eggggihfcaabljfpjiiaohloefmgejic?hl=en <https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/smart-rss/eggggihfcaabljfpjiiaohloefmgejic?hl=en>;

Fortunately the developer is quite responsive and really wants to help make Smart RSS more accessible on Github. So if you are interested, please visit the following page and chip in with your perspectives and suggestions: https://github.com/SmartRSS/Smart-RSS/issues/132 <https://github.com/SmartRSS/Smart-RSS/issues/132>;

Hope together we can find an accessible RSS solution for Windows 10/MS Edge Chromium/Google Chrome in order to get rid of Internet Explorer 11, once and for all!


Best,

Amir
William
 

does the oldreader has option to auto filter out post that contain certain keyword in its title?

Cristóbal 於 10/8/2020 2:32 寫道:

So, now I had to look it up. It looks like I was indeed grandfathered in at the $2 a month.

What will you get with The Old Reader Premium?
- Full-text search
- Faster feed refresh times
- Up to 500 Subscriptions
- 6 months of post storage
- Instapaper and Readability integration
- Early access to new features

What will it cost?
The Old Reader Premium will cost $3/month or $30/year. However, for the next 2 weeks (or up to 5,000 accounts) we’ll be offering the service for $2/month or $20/year and we will lock you into that price for a minimum of the next 2 years. This is our way of saying thanks to our existing users and hopefully getting the Premium service off to a great start.

This post was back in 2014 so I guess I’ve been saving that extra buck for the past four years or so… Yea me.

Again though, you don’t have to pay.

Do I have to upgrade?
No! 90% of our users can continue on for free just as they are today. However, users with more than 100 feeds will need to upgrade to premium. Otherwise, all functionality will remain available to free accounts. We also offer a 2 week trial period for the premium service and will even allow that trial period to get extended for those still interested in moving to Premium.

https://blog.theoldreader.com/post/76417559063/the-old-reader-premium

I’m sure there are other services out there that offer similar features with paid and free tears, so it’s not like these guys have some sort of special sauce or anything. This is simply the service I’ve found to cover most of my needs. I am a heavy RSS user with multiple devices that I may use throughout the day to keep up on the news.

The Old Reader’s even got keyboard commands similar to how Twitter.com and Reddit.com an a lot of other web based programs have. I don’t particularly make use of them, but they’re there if that’s your thing as well.

 

Cristóbal

 

From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
Sent: Sunday, August 9, 2020 10:59 AM
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Subject: Re: [nvda] Helping to make an Edge/Chrome RSS reader accessible

 

On Sun, Aug 9, 2020 at 01:41 PM, Amir wrote:

I feel I shouldn't have to pay $2 or more per month for a service

Is this for the premium service, or basic?   I'll admit the website isn't good about discussing this, but when I attempt the "Sign Up" process it mentions a 14-day trial of premium.  On a lot of these "premium versus basic" situations the cost is only if you want the premium features.

That would be good info to have.
 
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1909, Build 18363  

A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.

          ~ Oscar Wilde

 
Amir
 

Awesome! I can't use the "river of news" format for a wide range of reasons either. Being able to utilize the "feeds list format" is an absolute must, but it is something that apparently only Internet Explorer provides on Windows. Maybe Thunderbird might also be able to do it, but it fails to detect my tree view of feeds and puts all NPR and BBC articles under one single branch without realizing that they belong to separate feeds.

Best,
Amir
Amir
 

Having my inbox inundated with lots of RSS feed updates would be a bad idea IMO. Moreover, this approach doesn't distinguish between different feeds and their independent articles -- again that "river of news" metaphor.

Best,
Amir
William
 

No of course.

My ifttt rss feed are marked with feed title and feed source.

Gmail will automatically bypass these email and put them under specific folder.


Amir 於 29/8/2020 18:34 寫道:

Having my inbox inundated with lots of RSS feed updates would be a bad idea IMO. Moreover, this approach doesn't distinguish between different feeds and their independent articles -- again that "river of news" metaphor.

Best,
Amir

Amir
 

That's true -- they can be filtered to appear in a new mail folder. But that doesn't take care of the second problem: they are delivered together despite having being marked with feed title and feed source.

Best,
Amir
Shaun Everiss
 

I agree.

I get many sources of news from many sources.

As it is I have restricted all news sources to official radio government stations, news sites and online twitter feeds.

I can just about get what I need.

But I spend a lot of time at least an hour or more a day on this stuff.

Tomorrow is sunday and I am seriously thinking after a bit I will try to get a break.



On 29/08/2020 10:34 pm, Amir wrote:
Having my inbox inundated with lots of RSS feed updates would be a bad idea IMO. Moreover, this approach doesn't distinguish between different feeds and their independent articles -- again that "river of news" metaphor.

Best,
Amir

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