April 13th, 2007

I was able to recover my last post thanks to the help of Gordon Weakliem. He's the one that pointed out that it was still in Google Reader. This was my first time checking this tool out.

I still prefer Bloglines layout, which is a lot easier to read. Google's interfaces always come across as, well, *hacked together–like the people can't be bothered to add spacing between items in a list so they're easier to read. Google does have, though, a really good handle on how to use server and client resources, via Ajax.

Just like with Google Maps, Google Reader uses pagination–using Ajax calls to automatically load items so that as you scroll, new items are appended to the end in a never ending stream. Yahoo uses this approach, too, but really botches the implementation. Google Reader's use of pagination is exceptional–really a good demonstration of this tricky Ajax functionality.

I still won't use Google Reader because of the interface. However, GR does provide a nice demonstration of pagination next time someone wants to see an example of this technique that works well.

*Geez, Google, work on your interfaces. Primitive Google was chi chi clever at one time, but it's been done to death.

Comments
1
Bud Gibson - 2:03 am 4/14/2007

With reader, I don't think they're doing primitive interface anymore, it's sort of the more cluttered craig's list style. It's kind of nice just being able to scan.

2
Elaine - 8:30 am 4/14/2007

I like it because it's the only web-based aggregator that doesn't look like crap or load like molasses on my windows mobile. so I can fire up the wifi on it and read in the evening as if it were a paperback, which makes for a very pleasant experience. (I'm sort of meh about the normal interface; I can take it or leave it.)

Thanks to all those who have contributed to the discussion. Comments are now closed, but you can contact the author of the post directly.