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RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

egidiotexas — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:52:38 GMT

Thanks for the clarification, Jonathon.

I had no problem accessing the application. I did see that the icons and general layout were larger than just the regular Newsgator web version. I could navigate through all my feeds very easily.

Please forgive me if I mention things previously discussed. If you prefer I start a separate thread, just let me know. Here are a few general comments:

(1) I don't see an option to save my log-in information. Saving that information would be a nice addition The user wouldn't have to reenter that every time.

(2) It would also be great to have the option to mark all read appearing on the top of the screen. It would save having to scroll down.

(3) In my previous phone (Treo 700p), I was using one of the FreeRange readers. A nice feature of the reader was that clicking on a particular folder would open it and list just the major entries without taking you to the article directly. By just looking at the "headlines," the user could decide whether to click on the link to read the article or just skip it.

This is a nice working app on the Instinct. When you guys are ready to roll it out to other Instinct users, I'd be glad to post a link on the Instinct forums I read. There are other people looking for a good RSS reader.

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Jonathon McDougall — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:02:54 GMT

The iPhone reader isn't an application as such - it's a web-based reader designed to work well on the iPhone sized screen.

If it was an application (and we do have a native one in the works) it won't work on your phone because it has a completely different operating system.

Other than logging in and being able to see your feeds, what else were you trying to do with the iPhone version??

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Egidio — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:32:29 GMT

Thanks, Jonathon. The link took me to the log-in screen. I don't think it works. I can log in and see my feeds, but I don't think that is the real intent. Maybe I thought this would download an app to the Instinct.

Thanks for your reply.

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Jonathon McDougall — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:28:02 GMT

To go directly to the iphone reader, browse to http://m.newsgator.com/iphone.aspx

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

egidiotexas — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:04:20 GMT

Like the iPhone, the new Samsung Instinct also uses a touch screen in place of a keyboard. Is there any way I could download the iPhone version to see if it works on the Instinct. I am a user of NetNewsWire on the Mac and already have an account with NewsGator.

Edit:
The link provided at the beginning of this thread does not show me the iPhone version download. Is there any other way I can get the reader to test?

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Keith Franklin — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:34:55 GMT

We will get the kinks worked out, and you are absolutely right that these are just growing pains. Thank you very much for the kind words. I'll add them to my weekly report for the development team to see.

We like to believe that we get it. We rely heavily on customer feedback through the forums and through emails to support. We listen and respond to every one of them, usually within 24 hours of receiving it. We use all of this correspondence to gauge the typical use case and to identify our areas of need.

We know there is room for improvement and we appreciate those that stick with us as we strive to enhance the RSS experience for everyone.

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

jrjones — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:27:13 GMT

I've been a (paid) user of newsgator for well over a year. I had actually gotten to the point with the recent upgrades to the AJAX-y (and buggy) main site that I was considering canceling my subscription. However, this iPhone version showed me that you guys clearly "get it" and that sticking through the growing pains will be worth it.

This is flawless execution-- my iPhone thanks you. And it makes me confident that you'll get the kinks worked out on the web reader.

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

hingis — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:11:41 GMT

Thanks for this reader,I will use it..

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Stensvaag — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:33:39 GMT

Excellent. Thanks . . .

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Keith Franklin — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:03:57 GMT

I see what you mean, but that might cause problems if you do not mark all of the pages read as you navigate.

This does give me an idea though. How does this sound? The message that pops up when all pages have been marked read; How about a timer of 4 - 5 seconds for displaying the message and then have the application automatically redirect to the feed list?

That way you will still get the confirmation message and will know the status of the feed, and you won't have to hit any extra buttons to get back to the feed list.

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Stensvaag — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:45:48 GMT

Another modest software change suggestion for the iPhone module. When the user clicks "All Read" at the top, the screen clears and the user is back to the list of feeds. At someone's suggestion, you good folks added "Page Read" at the bottom of the page--nice example of how responsive you folks are to your user base.

It would be nice if clicking on "Page Read"--if this is the end of the feed--would have the same effect as clicking on "All Read" at the top: clear the screen and return to the feed list.

If this is not doable for some reason, no worries. It is still only two clicks: "Page Read" and then "All Read."

Thanks . . .

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Keith Franklin — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:23:49 GMT

Hey that's a neat idea. I'll put that in as a feature request in case nobody has thought of it yet. Thanks for the suggestion.

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Stensvaag — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:51:02 GMT

Excellent. I just realized that the Clippings on the web hold more than 5 clips at a time. This is a perfect work around for me at the moment. I can send as many as I need to there while I am away from the PC, using my iPhone (e.g., 15 to 20 or so), and then eyeball the clippings on my PC when I later log onto the web with that device. At that point, I can decide if there is anything worth passing along to friends. Very elegant, and more than enough for my needs.

If you do allow the iPhone user to choose a folder for the clippings, I hope your programmers can do something very easy so that we don't need to tap more than once. One possibility would be to present more than one "Clip" spot: "Clip" and "Clip/Choose". There is certainly enough real-estate on the iPhone screen to allow that. "Clip" would simply go to "My Clippings" -- "Clip/Choose" would present the option to choose a folder. That would be sweet!

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Keith Franklin — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:49:30 GMT

Actually it makes perfect sense. For a moment I forgot we were talking about the iPhone. I went off on a tangent with NewsGator Online and FeedDemon and completely forgot about your mobile device.

My statement about FeedDemon holding 20 items was a bit off. I was looking at the RSS feed itself which can actually hold up to 200 items. They will fall off after two weeks or after 200 posts. This is true of any RSS feed created by any of our newsreaders. So you wouldn't need FeedDemon at all.

Just to clarify; The webpage will still hold only 5 items but the feed itself can hold many more. If you can convince your friends to simply subscribe to your feed instead of going directly to the page, they will be able to see more items.

Additionally, in future updates of the iPhone reader you will have the ability to move clipped items to another folder. I know you said it might be an annoyance on the iPhone screen, but at least the feature will be there. It is actually there now but there are so many features available that the iPhone has trouble handling them all. We intend to trim the fat a bit there.

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Stensvaag — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:09:33 GMT

Thanks for replying. Before I give that a try, let me make sure I understand you. My goal is to be able to add to "clippings" on the iPhone client. When I am on the PC, there are multiple ways to notify friends of worthy URLs, including very quick cutting and pasting of URLs into a single e-mail message. Your suggestion may add to those possibilities on the PC side, but I don't understand it to make things any simpler when using the iPhone.

The beauty of the "clip" button your iPhone mobile client is that it has the potential of overcoming a huge limit in the current iPhone software: there is no cut or paste of any kind on the iPhone, and you cannot send an e-mail while reading an RSS feed.

In fact, one of the things I especially like about the your iPhone mobile client is that the "Clip" button just works automatically; you do NOT need to choose from a list of possible clipping folders, which would be kind of an annoyance on the iPhone screen--the clipping just automatically ends up in "My Clippings" on the desktop.

Does this make any sense, or should I still explore the alternative you mention?

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Keith Franklin — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:19:20 GMT

I'm afraid that even with the premium reader the limit is five. That may change but no such plans are etched in stone at the moment.

But not to worry, I did some playing (I mean working) around with one of our newsreaders and found a way to publish up to 20 items at a time as an RSS feed. That newsreader is [url=http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/Default.aspx]FeedDemon[/url] and clipping items to a news bin with that program could not be easier. You just click on the icon that looks like a bread box and a list of your news bins pops up for you to choose from.

[url=http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/Default.aspx]FeedDemon[/url] is available for a 30-day test drive. Here is the [url=http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/Default.aspx]link[/url].

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Stensvaag — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:21:43 GMT

Keith and all . . .

Doh! I was trying to send a private reply, but was unable to do so. The "clipping" feature, as you suggest, is an excellent way to share items with friends. The current limit is 5 items. I looked around a bit to see whether some kind of "premium" version I can subscribe to would allow me to create a longer clipping list, but was unable to have any luck on that.

It this an existing option or one that may happen down the road? I read numerous blogs and cut and paste quite a few items each day for my friends. If the limit were more generous (say 15 to 20 or so), I could probably switch entirely to the clippings approach. But since I am currently receiving this amazing product without cost, I hesitate to even mention my request.

Thanks!

John-Mark

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Keith Franklin — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:00:07 GMT

Well thank you for the great feedback. I will include it in my weekly report and make sure that the development team sees it.

And did you know?!? You don't have to email your clippings to your friends. You can publish your clippings folders in your NewsGator Online account as web pages. Your friends can actually subscribe to this page and see five clippings at a time. As you add new content, the older content will fall away.

Just right click on a clippings folder and select the option to "Share Web Page / RSS" and be sure to copy the HTML URL and the RSS URL. They will be slightly different. You can even subscribe to that feed yourself so you can keep an eye on what your friends are seeing.

Again, thank you for the great feedback.

RE: New URL and iPhone Reader

Stensvaag — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:53:47 GMT

Many thanks for your extremely well designed mobile reader for the iPhone. I am new to Newsgator, and have had an iPhone now for approximately 3 weeks. The mobile Newsgator Reader for iPhone is by far the best app I have yet found. The ability to easily synchronize on-line and mobile reading is fantastic. The ability to mark all items read on a particular RSS feed with two quick taps on the iPhone (one on the top bar to get to the top of the list of links, and one on the All Read button) is elegantly designed and lightening fast. When an RSS feed is marked as All Read, the mobile reader instantly jumps back to the Index, displaying the next feed and the number of items in it.

I just now learned that I can easily mark ("Clip") an item to later send to friends and others via e-mail on the PC Newsgator Online Reader--frosting on the cake. I can now very quickly find items worth sharing with others and do so with remarkable ease.

I am a very grateful convert to this program, and have bragged about it on one of the Apple iPhone discussion boards. I hope you end up having many, many happy iPhone users.

Once again, thank you for an excellent, well-designed, and extremely effective program.

New URL and iPhone Reader

Jonathon McDougall — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:51:06 GMT

Today we are happy to announce several leaps forward in the NewsGator Mobile HTML reader.

Firstly, we have changed the URL to a new, easier to access format. User are now able to go to http://m.newsgator.com and enter credentials to access their feeds. This replaces the PIN-based model, and allows for easier typing on a Mobile device.

Second, we have developed a version of the mobile reader specifically for the iPhone. This version is optimized for the iPhone touch-screen and the resolution. The URL above will automatically detect that it is being accessed from an iPhone (as will the regular NewsGator reader) and redirect to the iPhone-specific version.

Finally, we have made the NewsGator Mobile HTML reader availabel to all users. Free users, as well as Premium, will have full access to m.newsgator.com