I've been using Bloglines for a while now and though I'd registered at a number of other sites, I've never really used them. Today that changes. The reason that I've decided to switch to something else is that, although there are many features of Bloglines that I like, there are more that simply don't work. These have become too annoying so I'm moving on.
The main annoyances are:
- Inaccurate reporting of fresh material: Steve Rubel doesn't really write 30 posts a day, but Bloglines is always telling me that my subscriptions have new posts even though, when I visit them, there is nothing there.
- Navigating my folders: folders are important, but Bloglines, at least as I experience it in linux/firefox simply doesn't present them well at all. The names of the folders and the presence of absence of new posts, are often hidden and I need to scroll the frame around to see if there is anything to read.
- Non trivial OPML exporting: ironic that this would be a reason to leave, but I find the path to exporting OPML from my own account poorly designed - so much so that I'm sure I've missed something. The only way I know to export my own OPML is by going to a view of my account as others see it.
Having reported the above, things that I will probably miss:
- Bookmarking posts: it is a great way to collect posts for further reading and blogging.
- The 200 post limit: this limitation is a good one - when I see a feed reaching this limit, I know that it is losing my attention and a candidate for deletion.
So far, I've looked at two alternatives. The first is Attensa's free online service. It pretty much fell over when I uploaded my OPML. The foldering structure doesn't appear to be there (which is weird, when you consider OPML). In addition, many (most) of the feeds haven't come through and are stuck with a 'downloading...' place holder.
The second that I have looked at is Rojo. I looked into this very early on and didn't really do much with it. Now, however, I find that I'm really starting to like it. It had no trouble uploading my OPML; the folders are all there, I can read the name and status of all the feeds; the reading space is very nicely designed. I'm going to keep with Rojo for a while and see if it sticks.