Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Google has recently made a major update to it's Reader service to become more powerful, especially in terms of ease of use. Here some tips that you can utilize for daily use:1. Do not include Asian characters in sub-directory of OPML file that you want to import. When I tried to import OPML file exported by Bloglines which contains Chinese characters for sub-directory, Google Reader failed to import the file normally.
If such problem happens, one can use Notepad to open the OPML file, change all Asian characters in the sub-directory into English letters. This helps to solve the compatibility problem. If the Feeds contain Asian characters, Google Reader can function normally. NOTE: Do not edit other XML tags when editing the OPML file, in order to preserve structure integrity.
2. Add feeds to Google Reader. You are most probably reading this page through your web browser, but you can add this site to your Google Reader in a click. Many websites, like this blog, contain a Add to Google Reader button provided by Feedburner, which has similar link property to this http://fusion.google.com/add?feedurl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/novemberTech You can just click to button and select whether adding this Feed to personalized homepage or Google Reader. Webmasters without Feedburner account can also achieve this by adding the following link on their websites: http://fusion.google.com/add?feedurl=[YOUR FEED ADDRESS]
3. Use shortcuts. Here are some useful keyboard shortcuts:
* j/k: next/previous item
* space/
* n/p: scan down/up (list only)
* o/enter: expand/collapse (list only)
* s: star item
*
* v: view original
* t: tag item
* m: mark item as read
* r: refresh
* u: toggle full screen mode
*
* 1: switch to expanded view
* 2: switch to list view
*
*
*
* g then h: go home
* g then a: go to all items
* g then s: go to starred items
* g then t: open tag selector
* g then u: open subscription selector
4. Star your favorite article. Google Reader, like Gmail, has a function to star your favorite article, thus it makes it easy to search for useful articles just by clicking the Starred Items link.
Hope my tips are useful for your usage of this great service. Please add a comment if you have any suggestions or criticism.
Labels: My Google Story
