Thoughts on Digg Reader

I finally got my grubby mitts on the eagerly awaited Digg Reader today. And just in time, too, as Google are turning Google Reader’s lights out on Sunday night. Sob, sob.

First things first, the import process (from Google Reader) works well; it retained the folder structure and the arrangement of RSS feeds within folders. My preference is to have folders stacked in an order which suits me and for the individual subscriptions within those folders to be sorted alphabetically. The fact all this was carried over intact from Google Reader was an unexpected surprise. Good show.

Perhaps most importantly, Digg have kept to their brief. They have made something very lightweight and utilitarian, that does a few things very well (resisting the temptation to turn it into a kitchen-sink type of web app). Less is definitely more when it comes to RSS aggregators.

Overall performance is surprisingly good. It seems slightly more responsive than Google Reader and, quite frankly, it’s nice to have a new interface to live with for a while. Let’s face it: Google Reader has been neglected for far too long.

Ok, I grant you, Digg Reader is still a bit buggy, but that’s only to be expected at this stage. The few bugs I’ve encountered, though, have been relatively minor. For instance, I’ve noticed some of my previously deleted subscriptions have been strangely resurrected in the transfer and I’ve found myself needing to click twice (sometime three times) on a subscription to view the content.

In any case, Digg have always stressed this is by no means the finished product. It was vital they got version 1.0 out of the door before Google turned the lights out on Reader on 1^st July. It’s important to keep a sense of perspective too; for Digg to have put together what they have in such a short time is a testament to their engineering prowess. Well done, I say.

So, overall, I’m impressed with Digg Reader after a full day of use and I’m looking forward to the updates to come. If you’re a current Google Reader user, you should give it a go, too.

As an aside, going through my RSS subscriptions made me realise to what extent the once vibrant blawgosphere has dwindled. It really is a sad state of affairs from the heyday of 2008 to 2010.

Nevertheless, for those of us who remain, the show must go on

And Digg Reader is going to make it that bit easier.