What is it?
Reeder, $13, Mac. The beta version of Reeder for Mac has been lurking on the interwebs for a while now but it only recently reached 1.0 status. What does that mean? Well, like any RSS reader, it grabs all the websites you read and places them in a single app. Reeder syncs with Google Reader and offers complete Readability integration along with being able to send articles to Instapaper, ReaditLater, post links to Twitter, email links and more. The great thing is that even with all these features packed into the app, it’s so elegantly displayed that Reeder never feels heavy.
But as beautiful as it is to use, the best part of Reeder is how customisable it is. Unlike the iOS version of Reeder, nearly everything on the Mac version can be personalised to your liking. If you don’t want a three column layout, you can roll with a Twitter-esque design. If you want to tweak gestures, change keyboard shortcuts, switch fonts, or hell, even swap the colour of the app – it’s all possible. So as pretty as the app looks from the start, you can make it perfect for your eyes and usable for your habits.
As much as I’ve used and loved Reeder for iOS over the years, Reeder for Mac might be the best version of Reeder yet.
Who’s it good for?
People who like to read on the internet. People who use RSS. People who like well-designed applications. People who want to read more.
Why’s it better than the alternatives?
I use Google’s web app and NetNewsWire on the daily, and they’re both still serviceable, but my eyes won’t let me go back. Using Reeder is like finding ‘the one’, it’ll take time to get used to it but you know nothing will ever measure up. And if you’re the type of person who cares about UIs and elegant design, it’s just miles ahead of the competition. If you’re not, Reeder might convert you.
How could it be even better?
You can edit your feeds within Reeder but you have to pop open an extra window, it’d be nice if it was within the same window. Multiple account support isn’t as fleshed out as it should be, requiring a specific key click upon launch. It took a little longer loading YouTube videos than I expected too. Paying $13 isn’t terrible for something you’ll use everyday but other apps are free, so it’s a little on the expensive side.
Reeder for Mac [Mac App Store]
Mark
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 1:14 PMOne could summise that had they known how to read, they may have spelt it correctly. It may be possible being that it is a iOS app that this was an intentionally ironic name.. though irony is no longer cool, especially so when you just turkey slap people with it.
olearymo
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 1:46 PMCasey, didn’t your mother ever teach you to close your tags?
Dean
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 1:58 PMIve been using this throughout the beta – its hands down the best rss reader out there fox osx.
finger gestures make browsing through rss an absolute breeze! and the interface is slick yet minimal – perfect design
love this app
strawmant
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 2:32 PMI’ve tried Reeder for the last couple of days and agree that Reeder is great ‘eye candy’ but I still find NetNewsWire the better reader because to me it is far more customisable (perhaps not the appearance, it is dated) and functional. I expect it will take on a more modern Lion appearance soon given the developments there. Reeder is also generally slow to load pages as well as videos I’ve found.