I really like Google Reader - it has allowed me to expand the number of feeds that I can read and it provides me with an interface that allows me to do that much faster and with more control than before. I seem to be reading somewhere between 1.5million and 3 million words a month via its interface - that's about the same as 15-30 novels - so it must be pretty good. However there are a couple of things that I'd really like to see added or changed.
[1] Search and Filters. Apart from the simple madness of the fact that this is a Google product for gathering data that doesn't have Search built in there is much more that I want than a simple search box.
A Custom Search Engine based on your feed list OPML can be a partial solution but a built in "Search and Do something" facility is top of my list of sought after changes. I would really like to be able to search my "feedspace" and treat the result like a labeled set of items. I could then:
- Search and read the items (obviously).
- Search and mark the item(s) (as read, unread, with a new label, for sharing etc...).
- Search and mark (as read\as unread\ with a label) the source feed(s).
- Save the search as a dynamic label so that new articles would automatically get added if they met the search criteria.
- Search and mail. Ideally used with the aforementioned dynamic labels. I could then use Reader to keep an eye out for really important stuff and send a mail to my phone when something I'm really interested in pops up.
[2] Some clarity and development on the role of Labels. Are they "Item Labels" (where they function as tags on individual articles and are applied individually to articles - starring and sharing items is biased towards this view of Labels) or "Feed Labels" (where the Labels serve as general purpose desriptors that apply a management hierarchy to your subscriptions and are automatically applied to each new item that arrives). The interface is very unclear at the moment about what the differences are between the two views, if any. I see these as separate things with some common aspects and would like to see a change that made that fact clear but I'd be happy for someone to teach me why I'm wrong.
[3] Automated detection and removal of dupes across different feeds. I see identical articles in many feeds (e.g. the Engadget PDA feed often contains items that are also in the Engadget GPS feed). Once such a dupe is read in one spot it should be marked as read everywhere even if the feed source is not identical. Clearly some care needs to be taken with this but it's the sort of incremental intelligence that Google is usually brilliant at so I have hope.
[4] Mobile interface. I use the
mobile interface more than anyone else I'm aware of and I love it.
Unlike others I find that the current ultra minimalist interface design is almost perfect for me for the simple browsers and cramped screens on my mobile devices but I want to see a handful of extra features.
- Authentication. Entering a Google Account password is a major headache on a mobile device. After seeing how Microsoft Live for Mobile handles this I think Google could make things dramatically simpler and safer as follows:
- Give your mobile number to Google Reader (they have mine already for Google Calendar alerts) and choose a short easy to enter mobile access PIN.
- Google Reader then sends an SMS to that number containing a URL to page that only requires that PIN to authenticate you to your Google Reader Mobile page.
- Expire the PIN after use\after a short time just to keep us all nice and safe.
- Add the ability to add labels to either an item or a feed.
- Add the ability to edit or add new labels and subscriptions.
- Add a "Share This" hot key. The interface already support the following in its Item read view: 1 - See Original , 0 - Next in Your Reading List, * - Add a Star (duh!), # Keep Unread, plus links to your home page, tags, subscriptions and signing out. It's a no brainer to add 2 - Share This, and 3 - Add a Label to this item. doing so would not clutter the display.
[5] More Stats and access to the data behind those stats. I love the new stats that but I'd like some more.
- I'd like to know what fraction of my activity had been carried out via the Mobile interface.
- Word counts would be interesting. Feedback into the Search and Filter features at the top and you have a way to manage your feeds based on activity.
- A live interface to the raw stats data data would enable some interesting mashups (especially if others, like Amazon, were to do the same).
[6] Feed Suggestions. The data mining potential of our reading patterns could enable some very effective suggestions (similar to the
"Interesting Items for You" Google Gadget).
