netvibes Vs Google Reader
By alex miller • Aug 14th, 2007 • Category: RSS, Web Tools
Do you get the vibe?
First of all, thanks to Sue Waters for posting an introduction of everyone that’s participating in the 31 Day Blogging Challenge created by Darren Rowse. It’s a great way to find out about everyone involved.
Sue, I think you’ve really started something with this netvibes Vs GoogleReader thing with the comments on your post;
“Alex from Miller’s Spin (Australia) may well cause me to be banned from Google forever. Her great screencast of how she uses Netvibes to subscribe to blogs has convinced a lot of bloggers not only to try Netvibes but also to give Jing a go. Which I did – and here is my quick screecast of how I use Google Reader to subscribe to blogs!” Sue Waters
I liked the jing movie you created and have linked to above, it was very informative. I love that GoogleReader let’s you view the blog posts on that one page, that makes life easy! As RSS feed readers go, both netvibes and Google Reader actually do very similar things (I also use iGoogle), but I do find netvibes a little prettier (much like Mac vs Windows) and has more ‘theme’ customisation options. I also love that you can drag pods over the tabs to drop them into different pages.
It’s also good to see everyone getting into jing.
Also, thanks to Kate Quinn from Waxlyrical (Australia) (also loving Netvibes) for setting up a netvibes page to follow our 31 Day Blog challenges. I updated this yesterday – click the button to add this to your Netvibes page. 
Facebook Meet Netvibes: Netvibes Introduces the Facebook Widget
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Well reading comments on my blog it looks like not everyone is totally over to the dark site – but don’t you mean PC vs Mac?
Sue
Well, I never heard about Netvibes before. It looks quite like Google Reader. Can you please elaborate a bit what exactly the difference between them and in your opinion which should we prefer ?
Thanks
Hi Sue,
Yes that’s what I meant, but I was thinking the operating system side of things, Windows Vs OS X. It’s the operation that matters I think.
Hi Eklavya,
I don’t use Google Reader enough to elaborate on the difference. I have found that you can read the full blog post you subscribe to using Google Reader (as shown in Sue’s movie) without navigating away from that page. Netvibes is slightly different in that you have to navigate away to read the entire post, although you do get the option of seeing the entire website and commenting within a frame in netvibes. I just like the drag and drop and the themes that netvibes offers. Other Aggregators don’t seem as pretty!
As for which you should prefer, who I am to tell you that? You should try them both and see which suits your needs – I think netvibes is the best
. You can start by clicking on the netvibes button in my post and previewing it. You should sign up for a netvibes account first, then add to your page
Alex.
I started with Google Reader and I’m just staying at this point. And you can “drag” and drop items into different tabs in Google Reader. But I do have NetVibes Rainbow palette envy. It’s sure pretty….
Alex,
My newfound Netvibes love is wavering. The visual quality wins hands down, but I’m having trouble with the blogs I follow resetting ie: I read them and later they are coming up as unread again. Now, I use multiple computers across both platforms, so I wonder if that is making a difference? Maybe this Google/Netvibes Mac/PC thing is all playing out on my computers!
Hi Christine,
That’s strange. I assume you have a log-in and everything? I’ll keep an eye out for that. Thanks for the heads up!
Alex
Google Reader or Netvibes?
Well, I’ve been playing with Netvibes, and as one of the first to say I dig aesthetics, I’ve not found the form/function ration right for me with Netvibes. It’s pretty, but it doesn’t work as well when I am both speed-reading, skimming, or delving into a big feed reader. I appreciate contextual action response such as Google Reader gives you i.e., you don’t need to navigate away to read, so for me? It’s Google Reader.
And today, Pageflakes (another very pretty) entered the arena from Laura. I’m fussing round with that today.
Oops, started blogging too early this morning. Excuse the sloppy posting above. It was Frances who is luring us with the delights of Pageflakes, and not Laura. And of course I meant ‘ratio’ not ‘ration’ when referring to the balance between form and fuction. Can you tell I’m an academic!
Went back for another look at Pageflakes earlier today, and became fascinated by the weather maps … Now if only it really would rain in Australia like those pretty little clouds say it will.
Hi Alex – after reading this, I may have to give Netvibes ago
Sue Waters may hate me now LOL
Sue
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