I've released Feedbunch, a web app to read RSS and Atom feeds similar to the disappeared google reader. Signups are currently open and it will be totally free for at least as long as it is in the beta phase.
It aims to be simple to use, hiding unnecessary complexity from the user as much as possible (feed autodiscovery, detecting when a feed has changed its URL, etc). It is responsive and supports being installed to the home screen in mobile devices, behaving almost like a native app.
Feedbunch is opensource under the MIT license. The backend is a json REST API built with Ruby on Rails, and the frontend is a mix of Bootstrap and AngularJS.
I'm very interested in hearing your opinion and I hope you find it useful.
Note to everybody else: It's open-source ;)
Anyway, the "About Feedbunch" of the landing page says that it is opensource (MIT license). Maybe it should be more prominent.
* Immediate responsiveness, especially displaying article content
* Information-dense, well-designed UI, so my eyes can skim headlines quickly.
* Search and sort
* Deduplication
* Automatic grouping: This feature would reduce the headlines I need to review by 50% or more, I would guess. Group articles regarding the same topic, similar to what Google News does (but with my feeds and a more information-dense UI). For example, automatically group articles about the new Samsung wearable announcement, so I can choose the best one to read or simply delete them all.
* Filtering: Based on headers or full-text, especially to highlight my favorite feeds and authors.
* Analytics: Which feeds, authors, etc. do I read the most? From which do I open the full article the most (I download all summaries, for speed)? It would help me weed out less productive feeds.
* Efficient management of feeds: Auto-discover changed feed URLs, etc.
* Security: No external connections from within articles without user confirmation. That is, no image downloads, beacons, etc. No JavaScript.
I'd happily pay > $100 for all that.
Nice and simple, seems fast enough. I like that it's a responsive design.
I need an option for oldest first. (I can't use a feed reader without this option.)
Needs j/k for next/previous entry.
Top bar should scroll out of the way when reading entries so it doesn't take up so much space.
Default font should be something more readable than Helvetica/Arial. (My suggestion: Source Sans Pro.)
(Disclosures: I am a happy paid user of FeedHQ, but I like trying new feed readers.)
In any case, your client does not say anything regarding the matter. My apologies in case this is something that can't be controlled.
EDIT: Another, small, thing: probably would be a better idea to make put the bar that, after registration, alerts to "check the email in order to verify the account" on top of the screen rather than on the bottom; or at least chat it's color to something more eyecatching. I don't know if it's only me, but I almost missed it.
Now that I've tried it on my phone, I'd say the default font size is a too small. (I tried Firefox on Android.) On desktop, I can use browser page zoom, but on mobile I can't.
Non-Helvetica/Arial could be an option rather than default, for people who don't want to load an external font.
Not affiliated, just a happy user.
- twitter (@feedbunch)
- github issue tracker (github.com/amatriain/feedbunch)
- email (admin@feedbunch.com)
They are indicated in the landing page and in the signup, login and other pages.
I don't understand your question about the HN feed. HN has an RSS feed (https://news.ycombinator.com/rss) which as far as I can tell includes every link posted to the front page, but not necessarily in the same order. Feedbunch does not create this feed, HN does, and I guess only someone from HN could explain what gets added to the feed. Feedbunch just shows whatever is in the feed.
Regarding HN's feed, all I know is, if I reset Feedly and Feedbunch (i.e., mark everything as read), after x minutes Feedly will show more unread articles than Feedbunch. Over the course of eight hours (when I'm asleep, e.g.), Feedbunch will show maybe a dozen new articles and Feedly will show, like, 40. I don't see this issue with my other feeds.
