Reviewed Showcase App
ReadAIR - Google Reader AIR app
May 13th 2008 | by James
For those readers who use Google Reader as their news feed aggregator then you will love this new AIR application. It has the same basic UI layout that the web based reader has so you can really jump straight in and start using it.
You could be fooled into thinking this app was developed by the Google it is that well polished. It has full synchronisation with your Google Reader account and requires you to log in with your credentials prior on application load. These get stored locally so you won’t have to do it again. The viewing panes can be resized but the columns in the list view can’t. It has a search feature for going through all of those feeds and you can use tags as well as add or delete subscriptions.
According to the Google code page this app will soon have custom themes, keyboard shortcuts which I love using on Google Reader and more. Sounds like the developer has got some great ideas in the pipeline for this app.
Design eye
The interface is styled like a OS X application (regardless if your on Windows or OS X) and it looks great. The developers have done a great job on the UI. Text and icons are all easy to read and meaningful.
Technical eye
Yes, this application is hosted on Google Code and is open source. It is HTML based and uses the JQuery Javascript library for effects, AJAX and other behaviours. The code is extremely well written and commented so I would urge you to go and download the source, great for seeing how a complex HTML AIR application goes together.
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Your Comments and Views
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Fabianv
Hmmm, cool concept but still very buggy.. it doesnt even log in on my side. Would love to see this further developed…
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James
Yes, I had login issues too. Seemed to work on the third attempt and now logs in fine.
Given that Google don’t actively support an open API for Reader, I guess that there are going to be a few teething troubles.
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Tony
Cannot seem to move down list of articles using keypad – non-starter for me.
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J. Phil
Ok, I get that this page is expressly for Adobe AIR apps, and I love AIR apps. But making an AIR version of Google Reader seems silly.. why not use the already-excellent multiplatform Mozilla Prism to make a standalone Google Reader app?
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Adam McGrath
Thanks for all your comments about my app. It’s got a few bugs to iron out, especially for PC users, and there are some much needed features that I hope to implement soon – Offline mode and keyboard shortcuts for example. In the mean time I hope you enjoy using it! Thanks
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James
Adam,
It’s a good looking app and I it looks like your going to be actively developing it and incorporating user feedback, so keep us informed of your progress.
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Wormy
I love this app, looking fw to the further development. Will keep an eye out for the updates!
x -
Adam McGrath
Couple of little fixes and I’ve made a start on the all important keyboard shortcuts (starting with J/K!). Full details of Version 0.11 here:
code.google.com/p/readair/wiki/ReleaseNotes
If you’ve already got the app you can auto update it from the application.
I’ve also set up a Google Group:
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Helloworld
Nice app, but podcasts don’t work…
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tearaway_Tea
Really cool application with good skin!
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Kristofer Harzinski
This is a great app. Good looking and useful. Can’t wait to see it progress.
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ajay
this is what i am looking for in a desktop rss reader
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