Comments on: Pre-qualifying RSS feeds with Firefox and SessionSaver

By: Britt

Britt — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 17:07:14 +0000

I like the bookmark idea for sites I’m considering subscribing to and opening them in tabs when I have the time to evaluate them.

I had installed Scrapbook a while back. Maybe it’s time to put it to use. Thanks.

I use Bloglines primarily because it is browser based but am wondering if some standalone readers might have better features for managing feeds.

By: Silvia

Silvia — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 14:18:52 +0000

I suggest you all who use Firefox to have a look at this extension. Scrapbook allow us to save from a word to a page and its links, and many midia files. Everything can be arranged in files and we have an easy access, just a click in the sidebar. The search is also excellent. I’ve downloaded the manual. It is the best way for me to file things for evaluation.
http://amb.vis.ne.jp/mozilla/s.....hp?lang=en

I haven’t come to a conclusion which is the best rss reader: Bloglines or My Yahoo’s page, where I can have till 100 feeds (not sure, I have 10)and each one with 30 entries each page. I can read all feeds for a gist. However, the subscription in Bloglines is much easier and I do something similar to Lea.

By: cjbrown

cjbrown — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 12:07:28 +0000

I just add it to Bloglines then scan through them and “save” any interesting items. Later I go back and decide if they should be “clipped” for later.

I used to do Tabs and still do occasionally, but I just add bookmarks into folders. Then I can just “Open in Tabs” when I want to catch up on that subject. Not as good for blogs, but great for loading all the virus sites to compare risk levels from many companies.

I also use “Bookmark Syncronizer” to ftp/xml sync all my PCs and Mac. That makes a huge difference.

By: Britt

Britt — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 02:53:46 +0000

I think of my RSS reader as an inbox, so there are rarely any unread posts (out of 55 feeds currently). I use tabs as an open filing system (similar to a tickler system).

I have eleven categories in my RSS reader, so if I’m going to subscribe to a post, it has to fit into one of those categories. That way, I don’t allow subscriptions to pile up uncategorized.

Browser tabs for me are never a distraction because they are in the background, although I do agree on the system overload, since I tend to have three dozen tabs open at all times. It’s surprising to me how much of my work is done in a browser now compared to several years ago.

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 02:36:30 +0000

I’m a lot more aggressive and disorganised. I don’t subscribe to a site unless I’ve been linked to it twice or more (hopefully it’s got enough of a distinctive look so that I remember I’ve been there before).

I find that a whole pile of tabs is very distracting when I’m trying to do work in my browser.

By: Lea

Lea — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 22:07:41 +0000

I take a slightly different tack – keeping tabs open is too much of a system and cognitive overload.
I load any interesting looking feed into my feedreader, but new ones go ‘down the bottom’. This lets me keep an eye on them and see if they are doing anything interesting.
From there, they are either deleted after a few days (not very often) or moved into one of ‘read this’, ‘2nd pri’, ‘if not busy’ (which is massive, and currently has over 500 unread posts in it – in all probability I will mark them all as read) and ‘if bored’ (things like amazon feeds)
This lets me track lots of feeds, but only let it interrupt my work flow to the extent that i have time for.
Feeds tend to filter up and down the folder structure over time. Works for me! :)

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 21:23:55 +0000

Michael – Thanks for the tip. For the record, Britt needs to take credit for this one. Many thanks for him to contributing.

By: Britt

Britt — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 21:09:52 +0000

Thanks for the update on Opera. I missed the window of opportunity for a free license, but it’s good to know that it has that feature built in.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 20:50:09 +0000

Then, rather than instantly subscribing to that new site based on one interesting post, keep it open in a tab in Firefox instead. Don’t be afraid to have up to a dozen or two tabs open at all times. Use the SessionSaver extension to remember your open tabs if you have to close Firefox (Saft for
Safari also does this). When you reopen Firefox, all your open tabs will reappear, allowing you to get back to work right where you left off.

Opera has this feature free :) That is, the browser itself isn’t free. I snagged a copy on their 10th Anniversary (they gave away free serials).

Anyway, I am loving the website Keith! Great work.