4 Reasons to NOT use Email as your Feed Reader

Update :Get feeds via email using this method

In the previous post, I talked of about the Problem with reading feeds on RSS Readers, I also suggested the alternative to RSS feed clients i.e Email – how subscribing to Feeds via email can be more useful then using an aggregator.

Though there are also some disadvantages of the above method. Subscribing to email updates takes away the pain of opening feed clients, it does however adds a few annoying problems.

1.Mixing up of important Emails with Feed updates

One of the most common irritant is mixing up of personal/work /important emails with Feed updates from the websites you follow. Worst still, you might end up deleting an important mail and miss out on an important conversation.

Solution : Make filters and labels. Group your feeds into different categories so they don’t land in your inbox straight.

2.Feed Bombs

Its a frightening sight to find your inbox filled with many unread emails. When these unread emails turn out to be Feed updates, its plain annoying. You may be expecting an important email, and you shiver at the sight of every single unread email, only to find that they are feeds.

Solution : Use an alternate email address eg : yourname_myfeeds@gmail.com

If you use gmail, you have a very good alternative. If your email is myname@gmail.com you can use something like myname.feeds@gmail.com or myname+feeds@gmail.com. Gmail treats the ‘+’ and ‘.’ as an extension and ignores them. So you’d still get email delivered to myname@gmail.com using a different email address for feeds only. You can then create a filter!

3.Inconsistent delivery timing

You may get your feeds while you eat, talk, sleep, do anything for that matter, and they are not in order. Sometimes, you get a drizzle of feeds, but at times you are flooded with them when you wake up. Really irritating, this.

Solution : Live with it

4. External Images not displayed by default

Images make for a pleasant viewing experience. Graphics in feeds keep the reader engaged as it conveys the meaning in form of a picture and is a nice addition to the vast amounts of text in a feed. A Feed basically consits of the Title and the body minus the formatting so a picture is the only saving grace.

Most Web UI clients with Gmail, Yahoo Mail hide external images by default which can be corrected but usually it takes the fun away to click a link just to see the pictures.

Solution : Set viewing of external images to true. A word of cation, using this may identify your email to SPAMers if you open a SPAM with images.

Tagged as: Feeds, Feeds via email, RSS Feeds, Subscribe to feeds, Subscribe to RSS