Michal Ždanský A lot of water has passed since Google discontinued its Reader service. Its demise affected some well-known RSS readers, who had to quickly switch to supporting alternative RSS services. Reeder was probably the most affected by the whole situation, which failed to react quickly enough and left its users waiting with a non-functioning application. Towards the end of last year, we finally got a new version for iOS that supported most of the popular services, but to the disappointment of many, it wasn't an update, but a completely new app.
At the same time, Reeder has not changed much. Sure, the graphics were slightly tweaked in the spirit of iOS 7, while keeping the face that Reeder created during its existence, and the app remained elegant, as it always was. However, apart from the support of new services, without which even the application would not work, almost nothing has been added. Last year, developer Silvio Rizzi also promised to release a public beta version last fall. The trial version is only being released today, nine months after Reeder was removed from the Mac App Store.
After the first run, setting up your preferred RSS sync service, you'll be practically at home. Visually, not much has changed. The application still maintains a three-column layout with the possibility of revealing a fourth column on the left with individual services. What is new, however, is the option to switch to a minimal view, where Reeder is more like a client for Twitter with a view of folders and a list of feeds. Individual articles in this mode then open in the same window. Users will also have a choice of five different color themes, ranging from light to dark, but all designed in a very similar style.
The overall design is generally flatter, Rizzi seems to have carried over some of the look from his iOS app. Unfortunately, entire preferences that look like settings on the iPad are in this vein, which feels strange on the Mac, to say the least. But this is the first beta, and a few things will probably change in the final version. Likewise, the offer of sharing services is not read later is not complete. The final version will copy the offer of the iOS version in this respect.
The first version of the app for Mac was famous for its multitouch gestures that made reading easier. Rizzi added one new thing to the second version, namely swiping to the left to open the article in the integrated browser. This gesture is accompanied by a nice animation – the left column is pushed away and the middle column moves to the left to make more room for the browser window to overlap the right content column.
Although Reeder 2 is as sleek as ever, the question remains whether the app still has a chance to break through after its long absence. It does not bring anything new to the table, but competitor ReadKit offers, for example, smart folders. They can be of great help when you are managing several tens or hundreds of feeds at once. What's more, you'll have to pay again for the new Mac version; don't expect an update.
You can download the beta version of Reeder 2 <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1932/8043/files/200721_ODSTOUPENI_BEZ_UDANI_DUVODU__EN.pdf?v=1595428404" data-gt-href-en="https://en.notsofunnyany.com/">here</a>.
wait a year for it and then buy it anyway? I understand that he has to live on something, but I already bought it once. so I won't buy reeder 2 anymore.
Looks great :)