While I have not used my Google Reader account for a long while, thanks to the awesome desktop RSS reader RSS Owl, I have been following recent news with interest. Especially the latest Google Reader update has infuriated part of the service’s user base. The update has been part of a larger scale redesign of all Google products in 2011. Some users have criticized Google for removing share and like buttons from Reader and replacing them with options to +1 favorite news stories. Google in this regard is promoting their own Google+ social networking and sharing service over other services and internal sharing options.
The new design has also been criticized for putting the content second to the interface. Lets take a look at the current implementation of Google Reader on the official site.
Users are greeted with the black Google toolbar at the top and a large area with logos and elements below. The actual news items are placed in large font with lots of whitespace in between, far from ideal for users who want to get quick overviews of new items posted.
The userscript (also available as a Firefox add-on) Google Reader New Style Minimalistic turns Google Reader changes the interface to a minimalistic one that is optimized for using as much screen estate as possible for Google Reader posts. Lets take a look at how Google Reader looks with the userscript installed and activated.
The new interface removes almost all the static elements at the top. The font size has been reduced to display more news items and categories on the screen at the same time. When you click on a news post you will notice that the same font size design is used which means that less scrolling is required (if at all) to read a full post on the Google Reader website.
The userscript is compatible with Firefox, and maybe other browsers as well. Firefox users can alternatively install the Firefox add-on instead
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I would rather go with Google redesigned addon and Google reader absolutely customizable userscript. Looks something like this:
http://www.shrani.si/f/1t/3E/35ytAtbI/screenshot1559.jpg
Looks very nice, do you have a link?
lmgtfy.com? :)
globexdesigns.com and http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/58577
It is obviously nice for everyone to have a direct link instead of having to Google that. Imagine if 100 users were interested. It would mean that 99 would waste precious time searching for the two web pages :)
Now they can waste precious time because links are not clickable by default :)
But I suppose there’s an addon for that, too.
Still faster than a search :)
And yes, there is: http://www.ghacks.net/2011/10/11/linkify-userscripts-turns-plain-text-links-into-clickable-html-links/
Yeah. Select the text of the link and right click. In Both Firefox and Chome you’ll have some kind of option to open the link. I’m not an Opera user, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t have a similar feature built-in.
Best google reader modifier extension-Reeder for chrome http://reederforchrome.tumblr.com/
The minimalistic userscript by demiangod linked to in this post is of course just an uncredited copy of the original minimalistic userscript by scott cowan http://userscripts.org/topics/19079 , even if the original one hasn’t been updated in a while.
what’s up with the red dot when loading a page?
i myself dont like the new interface
Cosmetic changes to webpages are best implemented as user
styles (the Stylish addon) rather than userscripts (greasemonkey).
Personally, I’m using THREE styles to get google reader where
I want it; white space and padding minimized, top bar removed,
colorized, and highlighted stories like in the old google reader.
They are:
Google Reader – New Interface Tweaks
Google Reader+ Minimal
GReader Harmonic
All three are found at:
http://userstyles.org/
I use this style
http://userstyles.org/styles/55583/gooder-plus-old-google-reader-style
Not available for Firefox 8!!
Hopefully, it will be updated, soon! :)
Have you tried forcing compatibility?
Forgot to mention that the Userscript works with FF8, but the Add on is not yet compatible!
u dont need to install anything. just press “f” to get better screen estate. pls try it.
I’ve definitely been irritated with the new version of GReader. (I had a feeling something bad was going to happen… I actually emailed ghacks a few weeks ago to suggest a story/comparison of the current feed reader landscape, LOL).
To deal with the interface change, I was first using the “Google Reader Demarginfier” usercript (https://www.userscripts.org/scripts/show/116850) along with my own userstyle. But now I’ve turned those off and I’m only using the “Google Reader IMHO – old blue style” userstyle (http://userstyles.org/styles/55756/google-reader-imho-old-blue-style).
The interface was not my #1 issue with the new version of Google Reader, though, as the disastrous UI can obviously be worked around with minimal effort. My main beef is how much SLOWER it is. I think much of the slowdown is owed to the damn +1 button that loads up on every single item. I spent an hour or two seeking out a method of banishing ALL +1 buttons from my web viewing. GReader’s speed improved somewhat, but it’s still slower than before.
I may give RSSOwl another try. It was probably 2007 or earlier the last time I checked it out.
What I’m really keeping my eye on is http://hivemined.org/
I’m really exciting about the potential there. If it takes off successfully, maybe then I can start looking at alternatives to the mostly awful new version of Gmail. :-)
Matt, the only thing that I really dislike when it comes to RSS Owl is that it is based on Java. It is the only reason that I run Java on my system. An alternative would be really cool. Hive Minded sounds great. I contacted the developer on Google Plus, hope he responds.
+1 on waiting on what HiveMined is working on… hope it lives up to the hype.
A good alternative is also Tiny Tiny RSS (tt-rss.org); though it’s not for everyone since you should install on your own server… but it’s really well done and you know that Google won’t know what you read ;-)
My new favourite Google Reader redesign http://userstyles.org/styles/55756/google-reader-imho-old-blue-style
I hate the new google reader..now i use FEEDLY..its awesome, must give a try
just press the f key instead
Try Google Reader Sanity userscript, it’s the best userscript yet to restore the Google Reader interface.
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/117298