FeedRaider – creating personalised pages with RSS

Posted 18 October 2006 16:59pm by Chris Lake with 3 comments

Steve Rubel pointed out the joys of FeedRaider a couple of days ago, and it is well worth taking a look.

Ideal for those new to RSS, Feedraider allows you to create bespoke pages by adding RSS feeds and works a little like popurls, only you define where the content comes from.

If you want to set up a web-based RSS aggregator then it really couldn’t be simpler. It is also perfect for sharing news sources with friends and colleagues.

Feedraider allows you to set up multiple pages, so you can segment content into channels. Within 10 minutes I’ve created one page that collates top headlines from some of the industry’s best tech blogs. I then patched together a second page called ‘Auto’ where I’ll pull in some automotive headlines from sources like Autoblog.

It really couldn’t be any easier, and the interface is unpolluted. It simply focuses on the job at hand - managing content.

This focus on content differentiates it from some of the more feature- and widget-rich personalised start pages, such as Netvibes and Webwag. With Feedraider you can move content around the page, but you need to access the admin area to do this, rather than being able to drag and drop on the homepage itself.

Feedraider also allows you to customise the look and feel (it has a CSS editor, along with some predefined themes), and you can import an OPML file if you’re using an existing feed reader and want to add a batch of feeds in one go.

There are various other treats, including two choices that determine the on-page headline display. 'Deck' will segment by feed, and displays headlines horizontally in banks of three. 'River' aggregates and lists headlines vertically, along with an icon for the source, and the time published.

All in all we think Feedraider rocks. Go see.

But will it make money? That’s a tough question. We’ll be asking that and a bunch of other ones to Finnish entrepreneur Jussi Vaihia, the brains behind this venture. Keep your eyes peeled for the interview…