True: Firefox 2.0 and IE7 are horrid aggregators
I stand by my assertion that the landscape is changed by having the two most popular browsers (internet Explorer and Firefox) release versions that natively auto-detect and handle feeds, but Randy Morin is right when he says:
Of course, Firefox and IE are absolutely horrid RSS readers, which don’t compare to best of bread.
Not only is it true, but it is a little odd that I haven’t seen anyone else saying this obviously and importantly true thing.
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October 27th, 2006 at 5:52 am
What is desperately needed are screencasts on the RSS reader aspects of both browsers. I use both browsers but don’t know how to use the RSS features and need help. And I am deeply into RSS–imagine how puzzled are the millions of people who don’t know diddly about RSS.
October 27th, 2006 at 10:31 am
When I upgraded to FF2, it struck me as trivial to configure it so that a click on the new location-bar orange goodie brings up the Bloglines subscription page. And changing that to another reader is right there in Options. There was certainly nothing that suggested that Firefox really, truly wanted me to use Firefox as my reader.
Since Bloglines is also making a big thing of the ease with which both IE7 and FF2 will add a feed to Bloglines, it strikes me that neither browser is in any way trying to “take people back” from the other readers.
Maybe I’m missing the importance (or failing to look a gift horse in the mouth?). Both browsers are making it a lot easier for people to subscribe to feeds. Neither browser automatically assumes that they should push you to someone else’s reader, but FF at least makes it easy to go there. Would we be better off if FF and IE did NOT provide this one-click support?
Heck, Google’s HTML rendering is a lousy way to read a PDF document, too, but I’m glad they provide the option.
October 27th, 2006 at 11:42 am
Walt, I completely and entirely agree.
I don’t think that either browser is attempting to get people to switch from their favorite aggregator to the browser, and I apologize if what I wrote made that an easy inference to make.
I think the point is that both browsers make it easier for users to notice and subscribe to feeds, and that’s great (see previous posts on this topic).
Of COURSE I’m not suggesting we’d “be better off if FF and IE did NOT provide this one-click support,” and I have a hard time figuring out how you may have gotten that idea.
I’m just noting that Randy is correct that trying to read a feed in either browser natively is pretty unpleasant compared to a tool well-designed for feeds.
I think this will change in future versions. I think that both browsers (and others) are going to offer branded online accounts with tools similar to del.icio.us, BlogLines, Flickr, and MediaFire that will integrate with the browser and make the feed experience that much easier.
October 30th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Sorry; I must have misread your comment. It struck me as mostly negative about the easy subscribe, but that’s taking it out of context. I do like your explanation in a newer post…