The internet is abuzz with talk of Google Reader shutting down. If you’ve been using Google Reader to follow me on this blog, and are looking for a replacement, here are some alternatives.
What Is Google Reader?
Google Reader is an online RSS reader. It lets you add blogs and websites to a list that you manage. Whenever those sites add new content, it shows up in Google Reader. You can categorize the list of websites into groups. That way you can just read the types of articles you want to, when you want to. I use Google reader and have a “sewing” list, a “world news” list, a “silly news” list, etc.. It helps me prioritize my reading when I’m short on time. I often ignore the “silly news”, for example.
What Is an RSS Feed?
Most blogs, including those that use WordPress (like this one), Blogger and tumblr, produce an RSS feed automatically. These feeds contain either entire articles (blog posts) or article summaries – the website owner controls what shows up in the feed. You can subscribe to these feeds and be notified whenever your favourite blogs and websites add new content. In order to subscribe, you need an RSS feed reader (sometimes called a feed aggregator). This can be an online tool like Google Reader, or a software application on your computer or mobile device.
How Do I Subscribe to The Finished Garment?
You can get the RSS feed link for this blog here: https://finishedgarment.ca/feed/
Just copy this link and put it into the RSS reader of your choice.
Don’t have an RSS Reader?
Here are some options.
- Feedly is a nice, intuitive RSS Reader that lets you see your blog subscriptions in your web browser, or on your iPhone, iPad or Android phone.
- Flipboard is a slick RSS reader for iPhone, iPad and Android phones. You can’t use it on a desktop computer though.
- Reeder is a good tool if you are a Mac user. It has apps for iPhone, iPad and Apple computers.
- Bloglovin is an online tool, like Google Reader, that focusses on blogs only. Follow my blog with Bloglovin
- NetworkedBlogs, is a tool like Bloglovin, but within Facebook. It’s not my favourite. Follow my blog with NetworkedBlogs
- Are you the technical type? Build your own RSS feed service using Tiny Tiny RSS or run your own using Fever.
- More suggestions here and here.
Anything I Need to Know Before Making the Switch?
Most of the above tools have a quick easy way to sync your Google Reader account with their app or service. Google Reader will be shutting down in July 2013. If you switch before then, you will be able to take your existing feed list with you quite easily. That means that you won’t have to enter each feed into a new application manually. So make your choice before July to save yourself some headaches.
Prefer to Use a Social Network?
You can also find The Finished Garment on the following social networks.
And on the following sewing networks:
And on the following French language sewing networks (pour les francophones et francophiles):
Am I missing something? Do you know of another social network I should be on? Let me know in the comments.
The Finished Garment 