I just recently jumped on the RSS bandwagon. I tried Google Reader and Apple Mail but both left me unimpressed with how the content looked in each respective app. Right about now you’re thinking that “how the content looks” is probably not the most important feature for most people, but I’m a designer so you’ll get no apologies from me. In fact, maybe you ought to up your standards a little. Ever think of that?
Thankfully, I came across NetNewsWire and immediately fell in love with the blog content aesthetics and ease of use right out of the box. Then I discovered another huge plus; it has the ability to visually style the content with multiple themes!
Bonus.
Let’s take a look-see.
The Goods
Yeah yeah, it makes the content pretty. But what else can it do?
- Syncs with Google Reader or runs stand-alone. You choose.
- Keyboard shortcuts, in abundance.
- Blitz through reading and scrolling posts via the space bar.
- Traditional, widescreen, and combined views provide layout flexibility, so it works the way you want it to.
- Save pages for later via Instapaper, delicious.com, or simple flagging and clipping.
- Works with apps such as MarsEdit so you can re-post to your weblog.
- Twitter integration via Twitterrific.
- Tabbed browser — it remembers your tabs between runs.
- Scriptable via AppleScript. And power users can even write script-based subscriptions in languages like Python and Ruby.
- Sort feeds by attention and unread count, so the most important items bubble to the top.
And if that is not enough, NetNewsWire has an excellent showing of community generated themes. I’m totally crushing on Legistyles™ take on typographic standards and styles at the moment.
The free version is ad supported, but honestly, I have found most of the ads to be non-intrusive and helpful. If your not a fan of awesome ads, however, the ad-free version is reasonably priced at $14.95.
Anyone else using NetNewsWire? If not, what is your RSS reader of choice? I’m toying with the idea of making an 8BIT theme for the community 
.
Almost forgot! They also have an iPad and iPhone version! Check them out.
Gonna start using it. I’ve got 3 different niches that I’m reading blogs for and google reader is great, but gets too bloated.
That is dope! I’ve been using GooReader… sorta… but mainly just been actually visiting the sites I read because, like you, I like the thematic styling.
I’m totally checking this out. One more app to add to my dock. It is getting a little full.
You should try this theme. Clean Caffeinated.
http://macthemes.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16804544
Nice! anything with caffeine in it
i switched from google reader to NewNewsWire about a year ago and love it. love that it also syncs with google reader, however, so i can access my feeds from any computer or device.
Another great one (that I switched to from NNW) is Vienna. I find it a bit cleaner looking and it doesn’t have any ads on it. It has a good selection of themes/styles. The current version doesn’t include Google Reader syncing, but there are rumors of support in the next update for this.
http://www.vienna-rss.org/
Looks pretty slick! thanks!
I do most of my RSS news reading on iPad and iPhone. I use the Reeder app on those devices, which relies on Google Reader (for sync) and love it. Gorgeous and simple interface.
Reeder also allows lots of options for sharing, including Instapaper and delicious. Worth noting that its functionality is limited to read and sync; it doesn’t allow feeds to be added or removed.