Review – NewsGator Online

Reviews Intro:
Now I mentioned NewsGator to a coworker awhile ago and the first question they couldn’t wait to ask is “You mean that spy ware company?”. Of course NewsGator has nothing to do with the old “Gator” spy ware stuff from many years ago, but it’s curious that people still relate the name.

At any rate, this review is one in a number (not sure how many) on free RSS Readers. There will be some online products, some offline products, and some that cross the line using features of both. Along with NewsGator Online, I’m planning on reviewing NewsAlloy, Pluck, Attensa, and as many other free news readers that I can in the next few weeks. At work, I’ve got a chance at a large team meeting at the end of April to present the virtues of news readers, and I figured I’d share that information here.

Primer
Here are some links to read up on what RSS, ATOM, Web Feeds, OPML, and news aggregators are.

About NewsGator
NewsGator has a number of feed reader products – NewsGator Online, NewsGator Inbox & FeedDemon for Windows and NetNewsWire for Macintosh. NewsGator Online is a “Web 2.0″ product that uses some AJAX features in its interface. The design is similar to other online news readers where your list of feeds is on the left and the content on the right. It does not use panes or any kind of scrolling system, so your feed list on the left will move up as you scroll down in the post list of the feed.

Features
Since the product is online, you don’t need to download and install any software, set any proxy or port information, or use your bandwidth for synchronizing data. In addition, you can use the online account to sync your feeds with one of the previously mentioned “pay for” software choices above. I’ve got a coworker who uses the NewsGator Inbox and is very satisfied with it. You can import your feeds into the system and start reading right away. While the free web version does not allow you to change the update frequency of the newsfeed, the standard sync frequency seems to work fine for the average reader, however, hardcore RSS junkies will miss being in control of synchronization times.

In each post section, there are three little icons and a set of five gray stars. These tools allow you to mark individual posts as read, add the post to the “Clippings” folder, and the ability to forward the post to an email account. The stars allow you to rate the post. These ratings will flow back to the original source (if they have a NewsGator account) and also help to show other users online determine if this feed/post is of value.

The My Clippings folder is quite useful for “clipping” a favorite post and storing it for later reference. You can also syndicate your My Clippings folder in RSS, and make it available to the public. Its kind of a neat way of saving important posts from a variety of feeds.

The AJAX interface of NewsGator Online worked well in Internet Explorer, but worked better in Firefox. I believe the key on this is to have a current Java VM as AJAX makes significant use of JAVA, and my IE6SP2 install only has the limited MS Java VM installed. Some of the functionality I missed using IE6 were right-click options. These range from marking items as read, deleting, moving, expanding/collapsing, Unsubscribe, and “visit site”. These right-click menu options worked wonderfully in Firefox, and I’ll be installing an updated Java VM on my main home machine to test this out.

Additional features allow you to add a Blogroll to your blog from NewsGator Online, supply an OPML URL, add a NewsGator auto-subscribe link on your blog, add NewsGator ratings to your site, and offer API options to developers. The knowledge base was consistent and easy to use. Structured in a hierarchical format, the articles were easy to read and the system was quick. The customary FAQ was easily found and contained helpful starter how-to’s.

The one downside to the knowledge base, was that once deep within the system, there was no easy link at the top or bottom of the otherwise cleanly designed page to go back to the “reader” view. A few simply “back” clicks get me to where I wanted, but a simple “Reader” link would be better.

Performance
This online news reader was rather quick. I’ve seen faster ones (Attensa for example), but

Dislikes
I actually like this product and may keep my free account, but I did see some strange behavior when marking posts as read. When you click on the folder instead of expanding the folder, then mark the feeds as read, the folder closes. If you expand the folder, then marking fields in a feed as read does not close the folder. This makes sense, but when you click on the folder it appears to expand the folder and allow you to click on feeds, so it is a little confusing.

Summary

To finish up, I find that I like the speed, flexibility, style and ease of use of the NewsGator Online product. Here’s how I rate it (1 being low and 5 being high).

  • Pros: Good performance, adequate features, easy to use, nice blog add-on options, neat custom “My Clippings” folder
  • Cons: Some odd behavior in Internet Explorer (Java related), can’t set sync schedule, can’t export feed list.

UPDATE: I have to take back what I said about IE6 – at least for some installations the same full functionality will be available. After re-building my day-to-day system with a clean install of XPSP2, I find that all the AJAX functionality in Firefox is also here. Must have something messed up on my other system (sorry).

UPDATE2: While I was unable to find an export function, Jonathon McDougall from NewsGator recommends the following tip to save your OPML.  Enjoy!

  • Log into your account and go to My Settings | Edit Locations
  • Under each location you will see an OPML link.  You can choose to make the URL to your OPML public, or if you view your OPML online, you can save it to a file.

Thank you Jonathon!

UPDATE3: Check out the review of NewsGator Mobile at Arne Hess’ the::unwired!

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View Comments to Review – NewsGator Online
  1. Jonathon McDougall (NewsGator Support)
    April 10, 2006 | 10:55 am

    Thanks for the review!

    I just wanted to point out that it is possible to export your FeedList as an OPML in NewsGator:
    – log into your account and go to My Settings | Edit Locations
    – Under each location you will see an OPML link. You can choose to make the URL to your OPML public, or if you view your OPML online, you can save it to a file.

  2. Rick Mahn
    April 10, 2006 | 11:08 am

    Jonathon,

    Thank you for stopping by, and to let me know about that ability. I’ll update my review to mention the steps you outlined. I very much appreciate your feedback!

    -Rick

  3. The Entity
    April 12, 2006 | 5:07 am

    hello

    we are fianl year students of Computer Engineering. WE have developed a Content Aggregator (RSS Reader + Screen Scraper). This is a server side code for websites who want ot convet themselves into portals .

    WE have to submit a cost estimation for the project. So we need help . Can u help us out with the cost estimation of the project ( a rough estimate)

    Thank You in advance

    Regards

  4. Linda
    August 12, 2008 | 3:56 pm

    I am a still a little hesitant because of the old newsgator spyware. I know, there is nothign to download, but are you sure they do not install some nasty cookies in the background?

  5. Rick Mahn
    August 13, 2008 | 8:26 pm

    Hi Linda!
    Yes, I’m sure. NewsGator keeps getting better and better. However, about 4 months after this post, I moved to Google Reader and haven’t changed in 2 years.

    I wouldn’t think twice on using NewsGator’s products if they fit my usage needs. How I use news readers has changed radically since then to the point that I almost don’t use them at all.

  6. A guy who read your blog
    September 9, 2008 | 6:53 am

    Hey,

    thank you for your info on NewsGator, im testing it out now. Although i have seen ‘Google reader’, and might have to check that out too. But it is google, they already know enough as it is, difficult to allow myself to give them all my passwords to use the reader program. haha

    Cheers, thanks for your help

  7. A guy who read your blog (Stephen)
    September 9, 2008 | 7:11 am

    Hi Again Rick,

    while i am commenting, i have a question you may know an answer too.

    I often type up many inspiring short messages on my mobile
    100-600 characters long. I would like to find a way to upload them from my (internet capable) phone wherever i am so that its fed to a website or blog…that should be easy enough… i have a little knowledge on blogs and website design BUT how can i have it then simultaneously sent to update multiple websites or blogs. like if i have 5 different websites for example?

    thanks for any help

  8. Software Reviews
    September 30, 2008 | 2:28 am

    Good review. I have never heard about this NewsGator before. After reading this article I want to try that and may be wrting a review of my own. Thanks.

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    February 23, 2009 | 11:58 am

    Great article! I had never even heard of NewsGator before reading this. I live under a rock by the way :)

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  10. Anna Richard
    March 8, 2009 | 3:55 am

    Yeah great article indeed. I’m still suspicious of newsgator though because of the cookies they have that do these stupid redirects. Up to their old spyware tricks maybe?

    Anna Richard´s last blog post..Learned

  11. Promotional products
    March 22, 2009 | 8:58 pm

    As Anna I too fear about spyware from newsgator. I haven’t come across any but the thought does stay in the back of my mind. Anyway, great article there. Appreciate the efforts. Cheers

  12. Google People
    April 25, 2009 | 10:48 am

    Thank you for the post! it really helped me to better improve my site.

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  13. Google People
    May 3, 2009 | 2:19 pm

    Thanks for the info! newsgator looks like a pretty cool product.

  14. midphase
    May 22, 2009 | 11:19 pm

    There are so many readers out there these days. The google reader is good enough for me.

  15. The Software
    June 6, 2009 | 11:33 am

    Hello,

    well, this is a nice review however i’m still a bit paranoid when it comes to newsgator, for obvious reasons ..but will give it another try..

    Respectfully,
    Jeremy

  16. Rick Mahn
    June 8, 2009 | 9:15 am

    @TheSoftware Just an FYI, News Gator and the folks behind the product are not the same as the old “Gator” malware engine that was embedded in so many software downloads during the bad years of spyware and such.

    If anyone has concerns about News Gator, please check out the company and their offerings – they’ve got quality products that solve real business needs. They don’t need to resort to spyware tactics to sell software.

    I hope you don’t think I’m jumping on your comment too heavily – I wouldn’t recommend a product that contains spyware, and though I’m a Google Reader user myself, I have used two of News Gator’s products previously with great success.

    I’m glad this post has so much value for folks – makes me think of revisiting it!

  17. midphase
    June 8, 2009 | 1:15 pm

    Rick,

    You mentioned that you might put out a review on NewsAlloy. I couldn’t find your review. What’s your take on it?

  18. Rick Mahn
    June 8, 2009 | 10:50 pm

    @midphase
    I apologize for not writing one! :) It seems I never got back to it. I did use NewsAlloy for about 2 or 3 months back in 2006. Once I started using Google Reader, I never really looked for another reader as I was quite happy with the layout, features, stability, and performance of Google Reader.

    I did pop over to NewsAlloy.com today and found that they’re still around, and with tons of feature I didn’t know about a few years back. Check them out if you’re interested.

    I hope that helps.

  19. albuterol
    June 13, 2009 | 9:02 am

    I use google reader. But i will try this for sure

  20. Blower
    June 21, 2009 | 9:26 am

    No other site I found was as helpful as yours has been to me!!!

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    August 16, 2009 | 7:26 pm

    Thanks, I actually like this product and may keep my free account, but I did see some strange behavior when marking posts as read.

  22. voucher codes
    August 17, 2009 | 2:26 am

    Thanks, I actually like this product and may keep my free account, but I did see some strange behavior when marking posts as read.

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