Despite saying that I would be using both Bloglines and Google Reader because Bloglines seemed to be slow (and for the sake of comparison), I’ve actually been using Google Reader exclusively for the last few weeks. It was too much work to use two readers to read the same feeds, and I thought I’d just give Google Reader a go for a while and see how it went. I can report that I have been quite pleased with its performance, and at this point, see no reason to go back to Bloglines.
The only (minor) quibble I have with Google Reader is that any text a blogger may present in a light colour, like yellow, for instance, is faithfully reproduced in the reader, but with a white background, making it rather difficult to read the text in question. 
Of course, on the original blog, such lightly coloured text is usually displayed on a dark background and is quite clear. One of my favourite litblogs, Bibliobibuli, illustrates this problem.
This is the blog as it appears in Google Reader. The red arrows point to the ‘problem’ text.
And here is the original blog – all quite readable, of course. 
(And should you want to read the post the screenshots depict, do! It’s here.)
The same post, as it appears in Bloglines, is also quite readable.
Hopefully Google fixes this sometime soon.
Yesterday I noted a nice feature: the personalised Trends that Google Reader generates of your feed reading habits.
The screenshot shows my Top 10 Reading Trends for the last thirty days.
It looks like Global Voices Online and Scobleizer are the blogs with the most posts that I look at most regularly. Third in the list is Kathryn’s blog!
The percentage of read posts for some feeds would probably be higher if I hadn’t had a week off last week (i.e. I would normally have read all of those feeds).
Other blogs that are in the Top Forty:
food pornographer, JadedLotus, Walt at Random, Mooiness, Random Acts of Reality, RobandWend’s Ramblings, Terra Nova, Pegasus Librarian, Rambling Librarian, Orange Crate Art, Moment to Moment, languagehat…
Screenshots in this post created by Snapper, one of my favourite Firefox addons.
Addendum: I didn’t add a link to the Trends page because it won’t work for you unless you are a Google Reader user. If you’d like to read more about the personalised trends, take a look at “I like big charts and I cannot lie”, from the official Google Reader blog.
5 Comments
Hah! The rise in quantity is what happens when your husband takes a break from work and is looking after the kids for a while. Volume will reduce when the rest of the year catches up with me.
I’m also very happy with Google Reader…except….I’ve been checking out Netvibes since last week…mmmmmm…weather with pictures….
I did import my Bloglines feeds to Google Reader and have tried GR out. The only reason I have not given Bloglines the heave-ho for good is that I have a lot of little clippings saved in folders (for use as blog prompts, etc.). But overall, I have been pleased with GR. Who knows, eventually, could stop looking at Bloglines in favor of GR.
Best, and keep on blogging.
Kathryn, I’m resigning myself to not being able to do a lot of what I’d like to, just due to time constraints and other commitments. I don’t know how you’re managing to do it all! 🙂
Angel, I still look at my feeds in Bloglines from time to time. I suspect I will have to maintain my account there for training purposes. When I show people how to use RSS many will not have a Google account (or want one) to be able to use Google Reader. Also, I do like Bloglines, it’s just the slowness of updates that were bothering me.
That is a good point, about the training. For Bloglines’s slowness, it is pretty intuitive to use when compared to GR. I am still fiddling with GR here and there. Seems like a good reason to keep more than one reader account. Best, and keep on blogging.
I tried out Google Reader for the mobile reader features. Later I ported over my feeds but Google Reader tended to hang. So I deleted them (manually!) and now keep only a few key feeds. I’m tempted to move all my Bloglines feeds to Google Reader just for the Reading Trends feature (that certainly appeals to librarians). However, inertia won out in the end. I’m used to Bloglines and I don’t see a need to track my feed reading habits… at least not yet. 🙂