A black background with a orange RSS logo made up of a dot on the left with two arching sound waves going diagonally toward the right. Next to the logo stands a bold title of 'Is Your Feed Reader Robbing Your Experience?'.

Is an RSS or Feed Reader Robbing Your Experience?

I came across an intriguing blog post by Antonio Santos, Your RSS Reader Is Robbing You and then a reply to the blog post by Kev Quirk. I have to admit the title both attracted me and shocked me. Initially my the first thought that came to my mind before even reading a word of the posts was “how could this be, as RSS/Atom feeds are an amazing technology?”. In response to this post I felt there was more that needs to be said, so here I am providing my own opinion on the subject. Though before I get into my response let’s first review a few important parts.

A Website

Have one’s own website is very similar to owning a house. Each one can be unique and vastly different from one another. It’s a digital representation of person, project, group, brand or company. In return a website empowers people to use their voice to express whatever they desired out into the world on their own terms. A website can be customized endlessly to better fit one’s image and interests that can create a unique browsing experience. Of course having this power does come with potential consequences.

A Website Feed

When a website provides a Really Simple Syndication (RSS), Atom or JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) feed it allows users and applications to access updates in a standardized manner. With the use of a feed reader or news aggregator software application the user can subscribe to a website feed in order to monitor for new or updated content without having to manually check each website. Another way to look at is to think of an RSS or Atom feed as an extension of a website that allows the user to receive updates but view it as the user desires instead of how the website owner desires. The text, images and links remain the same as the source website, but can be displayed in the user’s desired font, style and colours. Customization of a feed can be done, though it is limited in comparison to a website.

Does a Feed Reader Rob the User Experience?

I don’t feel that using a feed reader application takes away from the user experience. Since the feed is an extension of the website it should provide a similar experience, but stripped down to the most important parts, text and images. Over the many years of using feed readers I find they often enhance the user experience by removing unwanted material, clutter, style, etc. Everything else on a website is supplementary and not primary content. Good feed readers will provide the user an easily accessible link or button to press in order to view the original source as the owner or author intended. This in return allows the user to browse into areas that are not normally a part of the feed. This provides the benefits of both while having it all centralized. In addition to this a good article found in the feed when warranted should provide links of interest that would draw the reader to visit the website directly. Now with this all said don’t get me wrong all the customization, style and features of a website still hold value and are important just as much as it is important to have feeds available. The website and the feed support one another in forming a good rounded user experience.

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