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Tuesday, December 14, 2010



In my opinion, some software used all the time by different type of people (Internet browsers, email clients, Feed readers, etc.), need some kind of personalization because people use them in a very different way and they are part of the daily computing.

The solution to add features without bloating the main product is: Plug-ins.

That way you don't even need to develop every feature suggested by every people, but let them create them for you.

You are kind of right. In FeedDemon, even the options have options. ;)

Ultimately, it's a good decision.

If you don't do that, your software will end up looking like PowerGREP :)

I've always thought (though I never said it - sorry Nick :) ) that the Tools->Options would be better named Tools->Settings->Options (or Tools->Options->Settings)

Interesting - I think my reaction is the opposite. I feel like FeedDemon is crazy complicated for being a feed reader (I mean, it only has to do the one thing well), and I do a lot to strip down the UI to barely-there (though I can't get rid of as much of it as I'd like). I'd probably pay for a really good FeedDemon Minimal Edition - the only thing keeping me from switching to Google Reader is that it's also pretty complicated, and FeedDemon has better keyboard accessibility.

@Critter: Yeah, Options > Options is pretty silly. I should've changed it to Options > Settings, but since previous versions always used "Options" I stuck with it. I'll probably change it anyway.

@Ben: I actually agree with you about FD being too complicated. A big problem was that I created FD after creating two developer-oriented apps, where tons of features/options are a selling point. If I had it to do over again, I would've started off making FD *much* simpler. But once you add features, it's tough to get rid of them.

@Eduardo: I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm not a fan of the plug-in solution. Plug-ins sound great, but they end up eating up a ton of development time since you have to make sure that new versions of your software play nice with existing plug-ins. And, of course, your application suffers when poorly-written plug-ins slow it down, make it crash, etc. (witness IE).

Sorry, don't know where to report, but it would be nice to have these features in FeedDemon 4.xx:

* see tags applied to an item
* filter by items
* apply several "Content Filter" profiles to a subscription.
* use regex in filters


@GeniU$ the link to the support forums is in the red banner right underneath "Post a comment" on this page. Please repost this there

Thanks for all the new features in Feeddemon 4 and thanks for letting us Feeddemon 3 users register it for a cheaper price. I love the new Content Filters Option :)

I respectfully disagree. I don't know why anyone who isn't a power user one way or another would even be using FeedDemon in the first place. They'd be using Google Reader and just getting on with their lives. By not focusing on potential customers like me, who would actually pay for your software if it provided a greater range of customization to paying users, you seem to be curtailing your market.

I also, as a programmer, dislike the trend of "opinionated software" where the developer refuses to implement new features or is afraid of options. It's always just seemed like laziness to me. Trying to shift the focus and saying that you're not implementing new features because it's better for the users is just double speak to my ears. If there are a lot of options, find a better way to present them. Make the options searchable (Trillian does this) or make changing them a more natural process by putting toggles in context.

I'm aware of the paradox of choice and I'm not saying you can't go too far. However, I don't think FeedDemon is anywhere near that level. No doubt you'd say this is because you've been saying "No" all these years, but you can go too far on the other end of the spectrum, too.


Just installing v4.0; Stopped using RSS after having gotten annoyed with the whole blogging scene for a number of years, so I last used FD many years ago (v1.0/2.0 licensed user, and homesite, and topstyle, love your stuff)

Noticed that the wizard when you first run FD, still has NewsGator Technologies as the copyright holder, not sure if it's an over-sight, or deliberate, just letting you know!

And your sale confirmation e-mail has NewsGator all over it too :)

@Sean: First off, thanks for buying FeedDemon Pro :) I know it's confusing, but even though I'm no longer employed by NewsGator, they still owns the rights to FeedDemon. We basically have a revenue share deal.

As for the Options > Options thing: the Options… item should really be a top level one in the Tools menu and not the Options sub menu (which should be renamed to Settings or so :))

And when is *my* feature request - adding paging to the browser history so my mouses/keyboards back/forward buttons work - going to make it? It is hardly something for my pleasure only and will benefit everyone - well, it’s my request so I have to say this ;)

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