Gruml – How to view your RSS Feeds Without a Browser
July 14th, 2010
Recently I’ve been on the lookout for a more streamlined method of viewing all of my RSS feeds. After falling in love with Reeder for iPad I quickly realized that I need something just as sleek, snazzy and efficient for my desktop. Typically, if I’m at work or on the run I hop onto Feedly as I like the clean and organized layout it provides. In fact I absolutely adore Feedly but lately I’ve felt myself in a browser for far too long.
On my quest for a new desktop RSS reader I came across Socialite. Made RealMacSoftware, the same group who brought us RapidWeaver and LittleSnapper, Socialite is basically a social network aggregator that also incorporates an RSS feed reader. What originally drew me to Socialite was the ability to combine all of my social network accounts in one place along with my Google Reader account. I used it for a couple of weeks and really enjoyed it but, it being in beta, I found it to have some bugs that were too obtrusive to ignore. So off I went again, looking for another solution to my problem. I quickly stumbled upon Gruml which is now fast becoming my favorite desktop app.
What is Gruml? it’s a desktop RSS reader for Mac. You can sync Gruml with your Google Reader account and can do just about anything in Gruml that you can do in Google Reader. So what makes Gruml one of the best desktop feed readers I’ve used?
Open Tabs in Background
One thing I really didn’t like about Socialite was that when I clicked on any link it would bring up my default browser (Chrome) and open a new tab. While that’s a nice feature, many times I find myself opening multiple articles in a row to read so having to switch between applications every time I want to open a new link can be tedious. With Gruml, if I click on the link to an article it opens a tab within Gruml but in the background so I can click on as many links to articles as I want, they open in tabs behind the default view and I can scroll through the tabs at my leisure.
Share to Any Social Network/Bookmarking Site
This has to be one of my favorite features of Gruml, it’s extremely easy to share articles to all of your most used social networks and bookmarking sites. All I have to do is highlight the article hit command-I and it’s instantly shared to my Instapaper account. Along with Instapaper you can share articles to networks like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Diigo, StumbleUpon and more. In total you can share articles to 14 different bookmarking sites and social networks.
Works with Growl
Any desktop app that has the ability to integrate with Growl gets extra brownie points automatically. I love Growl and the fact that I can get unobtrusive reminders that one of my feeds has been updated on my desktop is invaluable. If you’re so inclined, you can pass on this feature by simply changing the settings in the preference pane.
Customizations Galore!
Speaking of the preference pane, let’s take a look at that. While at first glance it may seem simple Gruml’s preferences allow for lots of customization. You can customize how the title bar of the article preview looks, and the font and size of the text within the app (for example you can change the way the titles of the articles look within the unread articles list). On top of that you can customize which default buttons you want on the toolbar and adjust the window pane view to your liking. I a big fan of being able to adjust apps to work and look exactly the way I want and with Gruml’s preferences I’m able to do just that.
There are plenty of other great reasons to love Gruml but those you’ll have to discover for yourself. If you’re looking for an effective method of managing and viewing your Google Reader items through your Mac desktop, look no further than Gruml.
Do you use Socialite or Gruml? Which do you prefer? What do you like about Gruml? Let us know in the comments.
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