Initial Thoughts on Reeder for Mac
I downloaded Reeder for Mac (Beta) this evening and have put it through the paces for an hour or so. While this far from enough time to really get a feel for a new app, here are my initial thoughts.
What I Like
- Design. It’s a beautiful design that stays true to its iPhone and iPad counterparts.
- Interface. Reeder takes the same basic interface principles from its touch apps and aptly adapts them to the desktop using keyboard shortcuts.
- Keyboard shortcuts. If you use Google Reader with keyboard shortcuts, using Reeder for Mac will be instinctive. They use many of the same shortcuts, so the learning curve is low.
- Sharing. Having many of the same sharing outlets as the iPad/iPhone version is especially nice. No more bookmarklets in Safari while using Google Reader. Facebook sharing is not available, but I can live without that. Having Instapaper and Twitter is enough, not to mention the ability to copy links and email articles.
- Subscription icons. If you want to maximize your horizontal screen space, you can shrink your subscription list into square blocks populated with favicons from some of the subscriptions within that folder. (Pictured above.) If you drag that column wider, it turns into a list of the folders.
What Needs Work
- Keyboard shortcuts for sharing. The only way I can find to send something to Instapaper or Twitter is using the mouse. So far, I’ve not been able to find a way to map keyboard shortcuts as the sharing items do not appear under one of the Menu Bar menus.
- Closing/Reopening main window. If you close the main window, the only way to reopen it is to quit the app and relaunch.
That’s really about it. So far, there is little I don’t like about Reeder for Mac.
Mind you, this is a beta version. A bit of the planned functionality is not yet available, such as adding and managing subscriptions.
Overall, I’m duly impressed with the offering. I’ll continue to use it throughout the beta period. If I find myself reading more RSS feeds on my MacBook because of Reeder for Mac — as I once did with NetNewsWire — then I’ll gladly be a paying customer.
(ETA: The icon for Reeder changes from an empty box to a full box when new articles arrive. Nice touch!)
