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Feedly Becomes More Like Google Reader with Long List of Improvements

The Firefox version has also gotten the first update in a year, now in line with Chrome

Mar 28, 2013 09:53 GMT  ·  By
Feedly has a more compact list view, faster view switching, and improved left selector
   Feedly has a more compact list view, faster view switching, and improved left selector

Feedly, the news reader app that's been a popular destination for Google Reader exiles, is doubling down on improvements. With at least several hundreds of thousands of new users, the vast majority of them from Google Reader, the team focused on changes catering to them.

Specifically, the list view, familiar to Reader users, is now more compact, the left selector now differentiates between read and unread entries, it's also no longer in all caps.

These visual changes bring Feedly closer to Reader, though there are still plenty of differences. But there are some usability changes as well.

It's now easier to switch between the different types of views, list, magazine, cards or full, there are new buttons for all of them.

There are also some improvements under the hood, saving articles for later is faster, and memory leaks have been plugged.

Firefox users will also be glad to hear that the extension has been updated and brought in line with the Chrome version, it was almost a year behind.

Safari and Firefox users will have to update the add-on manually. Moving forward, the Firefox, Chrome and Safari versions will be updated at the same time.

You can expect more big updates soon enough, now that the team is very focused on the web version of the app. Meanwhile, it's still working on a replacement for the Google Reader Sync API.

Here's the full list of improvements and fixes:

★ Firefox upgrade from old v10 codebase to latest v14 codebase. ★ A new left selector design. Less loud – more more all caps. ★ Better read/unread contrast ★ Sort alphabetically ★ Denser, cleaner list view ★ n/p keyboard shortcuts. ★ Fast view switching ★ Faster saving. ★ Better LinkedIn integration. ★ Better recommendations. ☂ Memory optimization

Feedly is hardly the only one that has positioned itself as a replacement for Google Reader.

But, for now at least, it's the only serious contender and it's the one that comes closest. Digg has said that it's working on a replacement, but it's just started and it will be a few months before the first version surfaces.