So, the end is nigh for Google Reader. I went through the familiar stages of grief… For awhile I was in denial. Even after they removed the Reader link from Gmail, I would still try to get to it. I would search “Google reader” and go to my reader and just pretend nothing was wrong…
But they kept reminding me, “HEY, WE ARE LEAVING YOU!”
Then, I moved on to anger.
“WHY, GOOGLE, WHY!? WHY ARE YOU TAKING MY READER FROM ME!?”
A deep, deep depression sunk in while I was exploring my other reading options… I fell so far behind in my blog reading that I just didn’t know what to do with myself.
Then, acceptance, I started looking into my other options… it seemed that there were two main winners of this battle: Feedly & Bloglovin. Honestly, I need a lot of help here, guys. And I know that a few of you do, too.
So, in what little free time I have, I have been kinda flipping between the two… and I think Feedly might be winning me over. I will compare them both for you now, so that I can help you all as well.
Again, since I haven’t really spent the time to learn either one fully, please pardon my ignorance, and let me know if I am missing something that is available that I think is not 🙂 Let’s help each other through this hard time in our lives.
The Home Screen
So, first things first, the “Home” screen. When I log into “Feedly.com” or “Bloglovin.com,” here is what I see:
Feedly
Nothing fancy going on here, just a list of all the blogs with unread items, and how many posts remain unread. To the left we have my navigation bar where I can select which blog I want to read.
Bloglovin
This is the standard feed for Bloglovin. Now, from what I can tell, if I want to actually read something, I Have to open it. I will still be in a “Bloglovin” pane, but reading that actual blog (vs actually directing to a separate page like Feedly would).
Reading
Bloglovin
For Bloglovin, we have the view above, which is standard “Small Picture” view, followed by a blurb or we have “large picture” view, which is a large pictures followed by a blurb.
As far as actually reading the blog post, you have to click the post to open it, which will open it in a new window but with a Bloglovin border. I do like that it allows you to share to Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest right from this toolbar.
Feedly
This is where Feedly really shines. Here are our options for viewing:
Option 1: Words-Only
Option 2: I don’t know what it’s actually called, we’ll call it “small picture” since it’s pretty much the equivalent of Bloglovin’s “small pic” view.
Option 3: Magazine view (I think that’s what it’s called)
Option 4 (my favorite): Full article view:
This allows me to read this article directly from Feedly, which I love. If it’s something I don’t deem important, I can scroll through at my leisure and Feedly will mark it as read as I scroll. Of course, if I don’t want to mark it as read, I can always click “Mark as Unread” to remind myself that I have something to read.
Although this view does lack the ability to comment directly on the post, you can click that wonderful “Preview” link in the top-right, and it open a mini-window for your reading, viewing, and commenting pleasure.
Gorgeous right?
Organization
Both Feedly & Bloglovin allow you to organize your blogs into “categories”
I personally enjoy Feedly’s “drag and drop” organization feature
I also enjoy that Feedly allows me to “Tag” posts, which I don’t think we can do with Bloglovin…
Can I?
When you tag a post, your tags show up under your categories on the left-hand toolbar. You can then scroll through all the posts within that “tag”… This is one of the features I miss most from “The Reader That Shall Not Be Named”
Kinda cool, right?
Just sayin…
Features
Bloglovin
Pros:
- I like that Bloglovin helps me explore other blogs that I might not otherwise have known about
Cons:
- I have to click a post to mark it as read, or to open it to actually read the post… every… single.. time.
- Not a lot of viewing layout options
- No tagging 🙁
- I know it’s just personal preference, but I’m used to my GR toolbar being on the left, so I like that layout better (Yes, I accept that I’m a crazy person)
Feedly
Pros:
- I can read blog posts directly on my Feedly page
- I have way more viewing options available
- Feedly has the option to automatically mark posts as read by scrolling through them
- I have the option to pin an image directly from my Feedly feed (I love to PIN ALL THE THINGS)
- I also have the option to tag, e-mail, share and “save for later”, which puts it into another category marked “Saved for Later” for review at your leisure
- Oh, and Feedly has keyboard shortucuts!
Cons:
- I miss the opportunity to explore more blogs, which I probably wouldn’t even really miss if I didn’t know it was available on BL
- BL allows you to track your followers… which is also not available (as far as I know) on Feedly
- It’s not entirely intuitive