14 DAY TRIAL // The popular RSS / Atom news feeder for Mac OS X known as Vienna has been updated to version 2.3.4 (Build 2305). The new release is recommended to all users, as it fixes a General Preferences pane crash when trying to set the default RSS reader or Download folder.
Vienna is designed to be simple and easy to use, offering features that allow you to search feeds for keywords or phrases, tag articles with a flag for future reference, and organize related feeds together under groups, or create smart folders. A clean, uncluttered, interface maximizes the space for articles, while few controls are needed to perform the most common actions.
Smart folders enable users to dynamically retrieve and view all articles in the database that match a search criteria. For example, if I want to see what new announcements have been made regarding Snow Leopard, I just click on the smart folder I've set up for it, which searches for articles that contain “Snow Leopard” or “10.6” in their text bodies. The built-in web browser then allows me to go to the article's web page, or view it directly in Vienna's interface. Customization options are also available in Vienna, with the ability to change the way articles are displayed. This is done through the Style drop-down list in the View menu.
Fans of the RSS reader should remember that, starting with version 2.3.0.2301, the software has dropped Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) support. Besides dropping support for one OS X version, a Leopard fix now allows users to use option-left-arrow and option-right-arrow as keyboard shortcuts for closing and opening group folders.
If you are running version 2.3 or lower on OS X Panther, do not update Vienna! If you do, you can revert to an older version of the software here. For Tiger and Leopard users, the latest version available is compatible, while both PowerPC and Intel-based processors are supported.