Years ago, when I posted a tutorial for My Favorite Knot,
I thought it was a comically common thing to tutorialize. But, as that
knot has made my sewing much more pleasant, I figured, "Why not. It's
bound to help someone." To my surprise, that knot tutorial has sparked
the most passionate feedback. Most of you probably already knew how to
tie a tidy knot, but for those who didn't – ah, what a lifesaver!
Today, my March of the Tools tool is similarly basic. And though quite well-known amongst bloggers, it shouldn't go without lauding: Aggregators. There are bound to be a few dozen of you who don't know what you're missing out on. This post is for you.
If
you find yourself tediously entering and re-entering the URLs of your
favorite blogs throughout the day, just hoping that someone has posted
a new entry, read on. You need an aggregator. I currently use Bloglines.
Bloglines
is a free, online service that allows you to organize and monitor your
favorite blogs. When you are logged into your account, you
are able to see when new entries have been posted on each of the blogs
you 'subscribe' to. Subscribing to blogs is free and many blogs have a
"Subscribe in Bloglines" or "Subscribe to this Feed" button in their
sidebar to make the process even easier. 
just fixed my Bloglines button – it wasn't working right for months —
yikes.) Otherwise, you can click on a blog's RSS feed icon in your
browser's address bar (usually looks like a little square with three
curved 'sound' bars radiating outward – example to the right). The RSS
icon will take you to the blog's RSS feed, where there are usually some
subscription options, including Bloglines. Here is what my RSS feed page looks like.
There are many similar services to Bloglines, such as Google Reader, My Yahoo, NewsFire, and many others. I've only ever used Bloglines, so I'm not too familiar with the alternatives. All such blog-subscribing services are called aggregators
(or feed-readers, rss readers, news readers, etc.). Using an
aggregator is an absolute life-saver if you're following a long list of
blogs on a regular basis. An aggregator enables you to compose a
virtual daily 'personal newspaper' of all of your favorite blog
'articles' (aka rss feeds or posts) which you can read one after the
other right there under your account — or you can click on a link to
each post if you prefer to read new posts in their original setting
within a blog (my preference).
A lot of info? Let me just say it
is totally worth looking into. The time you spend learning your way
around Bloglines or another aggregator will easily pay off in spades.
One hour learning how to use an aggregator could easily gain you three
hours more free time in the next week or two alone.
I knew about Bloglines long before I set up my own account. The day I finally did I was completely kicking myself for not doing it sooner. A seriously good tool.
(I'm
sure I'm preaching to the choir here. If you already use an
aggregator, help me convince everyone else how great they are! If you
recommend a different aggregator than Bloglines, tell us about it.)
I used to use Bloglines until about a month ago when I was so tired of it breaking down all the time that I switched over to Google Reader! I couldn’t do blogging without an aggregator. It saves me so much time and keeps me effort. My favorite part is “starring” (in google reader) my favorite posts!
Ok, you made me feel better. I was a little slow catching on to this trick too. An aggregator is definitely the way to go. Actually, that’s I found your post so quick! (Not stalking…promise!)
I totally agree. I used Bloglines up until a few weeks ago. I was sick of it not working properly so I switched to Google Reader. Love it. Couldn’t do my blog reading without it. =)
Google Reader’s “Next” button for Firefox is just about the best thing ever made!
i use google reader, since i also use gmail. with google reader, i can set it to appear on my google homepage and see any updates instantly as soon as i open a browser. love it!
oh I can’t imagine reading blogs without Google Reader…. it saves me (too many!) hours every week
I use Google Reader, but only because I use Gmail and Blogger and it just ties in with that account so nicely. It is a life-saver, as I read over 50 blogs regularly!
Ok, because of your post I actually looked to see how many blogs I have in my google reader (yours included)–YIKES–its a whopping 55! I’m a blog nut apparently. So much great info and so many wonderful ideas out there. The readers make it easy and quick to check them all out. I could never keep track or look at that many without it.
Yes, Yes, Yes rss feeds are a life saver. I am a huge fan of the google reader “NEXT” button. I can actually “see” all the great designed blogs and there changes while still moving quickly through my list.
the clouds parted, a ray of light shone through, a chorus of “AHHHHHHHHA” could be heard! So that’s how people follow blogs AND have a normal life!!! I follow an obscene number of sewing-related blogs daily and it is tedious scrolling down my favorites list only to discover no new entry… Ok, I’ll re-read the above destructions and get myself set-up. Hopefully I can still indulge in my blogs without hearing my little ones whine about mommy “looking at farbic again”!
I use NewsFire. I love it because it fits in with my Mac computer platform. I get notified of new blog posts with a chime and a small number inside the logo just like my Mail program. I like also that I can organize them into sorta like folders. So I can just look at my friends blog RSS feeds or ones for crafty blogs like yours, or ones for work, etc. And I have it for my iphone so I can look at blogs when I have a few spare minutes. Saves me so much time. Highly, highly recommend.
my husband got me hooked on google reader, and now i subscribe to over 100 blogs! before i got my i-phone i hated coming back from a trip and having hundreds of unread articles- now i’m more prepared since there is an app for it so i won’t miss anything when i’m away!! (and it totally comes in handy when i am away from home and totally bored!!) i also love that you can just star an entry so i don’t have to bookmark tons of stuff!! OHH and it’s great when a friend uses it too because they can instantly share an entry they think you might enjoy!
I love google reader! Its so easy to use…I use Blogger, which is part of google so I can add my reader in my blog’s sidebar…it shows the blogs in expanded view too on my sidebar with a picture of each as well.
I’m another convert from Bloglines to Google Reader. Not only because of the breakdowns, but because it’s SO much easier to save posts that you want to refer back to later. The Bloglines “clipping” function was always slow and cumbersome for me, but tagging in Google Reader is a snap.
Oh and if you hate how Google Reader looks, try installing Helvetireader: http://helvetireader.com/
GoogleReader sounds like the clear winner so far. I knew there’d be a standout. And Mary, thanks for declaring your aha. My hope was to root out those of you who didn’t know about aggregators and save you hours more time for sewing, crafting, family time, sleeping, etc. Yay!
Bloglines has still not updated my blog posts for three months, even after me writting them several times. I am now at google too. Clarice
I am on Blogger. On the Dashboard you can “follow” blogs from anywhere. It shows you posts from newest to oldest. It is such a great way to keep up with all of the blogs I read.
My blog reader CHANGED MY LIFE!! I use Google Reader and I love it. I got both my sister and mother hooked on it. It cuts my reading time in half, and is easier to go back to posts that are especially worthy of remembering.
You are right on the money, as usual! I follow your blog (and an ever increasing multitude of others) on my Blogger Dashboard. I can’t wait to log in each morning (and lunchtime, and afternoon, and late afternoon, and evening…) to see who’s posted something new, beautiful, and creative. I’m a believer!
i use the built in feedreader through Windows Live Mail. Love it. I have used bloglines too and was happy with them as well. I just like having everything in one place!
Feedreaders are a must if you read more than one or two blogs. Through live mail I can “update feeds” every time I check my email, which means all the new posts just pop up- no more checking URL’s for updates.
I do things a little differently… I discovered this when I got my Mac not too long ago. When I am on my Mac and in safari and on a blog… at the top of the page where the blog address is look for a little thing that says rss to the right of the blog address… click on this and in this case of your blog you can do rss (atom, rss (1.0), rss (2.0) – I don’t really know the difference in them I usually just do atom or if that is not an option rss 2.0. When you do this it comes up in another page – simple post only page – on the right hand side of that page there will be an “actions” option and I subscribe in mail… when I do this there is a list of everything I subscribe to via rss – which btw are a lot of blogs. It shows me when there are new posts on the blogs I look at. It keeps them alphabetized for me and everything. It is awesome. So if you have a Mac this might be an easier option.
I hope this made since – e-mail me at cnyda(at)me(dot)com and I can tell you more.
I use Google Reader, and I agree — it IS a life-saver! I love the sign-in page which shows you at a glance the new content in the feeds you are subscribed to. Hard to believe that a few years ago none of this existed.
To get the most out of Google Reader you must install the ‘NEXT’ button on your toolbar, it takes you to all your recently updated blogs (in their true form) with one click. Love it.
my favorite part about google reader (or any aggregator) is that i can follow my family and friends’ blogs happily, without getting annoyed every time i check their blog only to find the same post (which has been there for a month!). i have enough blogs on there that i always have a new post to read somewhere… and when those slow updaters post something new, i’m just excited to read!
now i try to convince all my family and friends to use google reader — so that they don’t get annoyed when they visit MY un-updated blog!
Bloglines made me sad – veen the beta version, because posts were hours or even days old out in the blog-o-sphere before they showed up there. I’ve switched to google reader and am much happier! What’s even greater is to have an iGoogle page set upwith google reader, as well as other gadgets (like one to who my hotmail account) so i can sign in to iGoogle and then check all the places I’d like to without googling their start pages!
WHY didn’t I buy Google stock years go???
i use bloglines, but am getting more and more tempted to try google reader (can you save posts in google reader? i have 250+ posts saved in bloglines).
there is no way i’d be able to follow the 100+ blogs i like without an aggregator. makes it so so easy! i’ve got them all subdivided too (fashion, fun reads, friends/family, sewing, inspiration, knitting, home life, etc, etc).
I got Google reader just this week & I love it. Thank you guys for mentioning that you can mark something you like, I didn’t notice that yet. And I will also have to check out the “Next” button.
I’m thinking of switching from WordPress to Blogger but I just like that cute WordPress “W” so much and I don’t really care for the orange “B.” That is probably the dumbest reason ever not to switch & from what has been said I assume Reader would be more efficient with Blogger & I also have gmail. Google is going to take over the world soon.
Heather you have a very nice blog, I have never posted here before but I have been reading it for a long time.
I use Google Reader and it’s such a timesaver! You’re right on recommending aggregators!
I use NetNewsWire because I am a Mac user. I am just like you….I put it off for so long for whatever reason, and then once it was installed (which took all of 1 minute!), I could have kicked myself in the butt for waiting so long.
It was depressing me to log so much time going through my Bookmarks list in Safari only to find that very few of my blogs had any new posts. Now, instead of being depressed by a lack of posts, I’m delighted when I see even one or two number icons next to a blog indicating a new post! And the time saved is too much to measure.
I used bloglines until about a month ago when I got so fed up with it not picking up feeds or telling me after I had just read all my blogs that I suddenly had 1600 unread entries. I switched to google reader, you just export your blog list as one file and import it all into google reader, it takes 15 seconds max.
I couldn’t live without google reader! It saves so much time and I check posts on the train during the commute. It’s brilliant!
Thanks for helping me understand what I’ve been missing, Heather. I’ve known about aggregators for a long time but didn’t think I was missing much until reading all of these comments.
I don’t use any of them-for now….I like being able to see the pretty pictures not just the words.I’m a very visual person.Is there one that includes pictures?
I use Opera web browser as my aggregator. I get a little pop-up when a site updates (it can be set to check every 5 min to once a week).
Ok. So I went on last night to set up the blogs I follow into my newly established google reader account. I know it’s not rocket science, but for those of us who are experiencing this as a new concept…. Is anyone willing to help me with the steps? I clicked on a blog from my favorites list (bear with me you techie types)then copied the address then pasted it into a new subscription in google reader. Is there an easier way or is that it? Don’t want to tie up Heather’s site here, so if anyone is feeling charitable and has a few minutes to email me, I’d appreciate it!
I’m one of the few who never knew about aggregators. Thank you, thank you, Heather! This info will certainly help to save me tone time with all of the designing & crafting blogs that I read.
Heather!! You are awesome!! I had no idea about this. I signed up for google reader since I already use gmail. You just saved me alot of time. Oh, and, the knot tutorial, my grandma had shown me that knot when I was a little girl but I forgot about it until I had gone through all your tutorials. Evidently you know just what I need, girl. Thanks for the great site.
Google Reader is awesome! I follow 100+ blogs a day, and when I open up to my homepage and see all the blogs waiting to be read… it’s just like going out to get the mail, and the mailbox being full of letters…! So much fun!
I used to just have tons and tons of bookmarks, but now I use Google Reader. I love it sooooo much!
I used Bloglines for about a year but it kept giving me problems, it wouldn’t update a lot of my favorite blogs, it kept giving me errors etc. I found that I would be sitting there wondering why some blogs hadn’t updated in a week and then BAM, I would have an update with 20 posts or more that had been updated all along.
I made the switch to Google Reader and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. So much easier than bloglines and way better, in my opinion.
Sorry, Just to answer Andrea above…..Google Reader shows you the whole post, including pictures.
thanks to your post i have now switched to netnewswire (i’m a mac user) and love it – thank you to the person who pointed it out. like you i used bloglines, but i have always had some issues with it, just as other readers commented. one major drawback is that you cannot view the blogs in their own layout, which is a shame considering people make a big creative effort with their blogs’ appearance.
netnewswire let’s you see the original appearance and what’s more, you can browse your favourite blogs from anywhere on the web, regardless of whether you’re on your or somebody else’s computer.
sorted 🙂
Im a Bloglines girl through and through. Its clean, simple and best of all free.
I will however, take a peek at Google Reader and thank your readers for the intro to it.
I use Google Reader too…the one and only one I’ve tried but I really like being able to view all the new posts in one spot! That way I can skim through and get more information quicker!
I also utilize the “star” feature & add tags so I can look them up again for later (like tutorials, etc.)
Love Google Reader.
Since I have a Blogger account for my blog (plus Gmail, Analytics, etc.), I just use the “Blogs I’m Following” feature in my Blogger dashboard. It really only lets me know when people post a new blog (or at least that’s all I’ve used it for so far) but it meets my needs and it’s convenient to have it attached to my other Google assets so that I’m not constantly logging-in to different functions.
I just learned of your amazing blog through my December Creating Keepsake mag I was browsing through today & just happened to see your pinwheel idea. So glad I checked it out. Love your blog and I just found out about Google reader a couple of days ago which is making my life so much easier.
thank you, thank you, thank you !!! I never knew about this – although I am a blogging novice – bet you see a lot more people following yours now – including me !!!
Thanks all you Google Reader fans as I switched from Bloglines after reading all the kudos for GR. I love it!
So this morning I took a spin on my new Google Reader and I love it! Thanks so much for this post, Heather!
I used to use Bloglines and then switched to Reader. I like Reader a lot better, mostly for the formatting and display options. If you are an avid blog reader and are not using a feed subscription of some sort you could be saving a TON of time. Hooray for blogs!
As a new blogger, and not that techy…I so appreciate you sharing your knowledge. You’re the best. I also appreciate all the comments about ‘Mac’ and sharing the info on that too.
Thank you again,
I did it and I love it!
It appears I am atypical – I read this blog and one other on a regular basis. Sometimes I follow links to other sites. And I am a news junkie so check out a few of those sites each AM. But I really resist spending too much time surfing the net. It’s too addictve!
You are so right! I would die without bloglines. Great post!
Well, I am stuck on bloglines…I have accounts with both google and bloglines, but I just can’t get comfortable with the look of the google one. I wonder if I can customize it? But agree…they are the best things ever invented…I follow 216 blogs at last count, and no WAY could I do that without a reader! lol
What I really chimed in to say, though, was I adore your knot tutorial. ADORE it. My grandma was a seamstress, and my mom taught me her way of doing a knot, but nobody ever mentioned your way! I feel gypped! lol
Hi Heather, very nice blog. My mother taught me how to make the knot that u call your favorite knot. But that was about 15 years ago. She had passed away when I was 13, and she sew all our dresses including our school outfits. When I found your tutorial, I was so touched because you have taught a very simple and basic thing, and u never look down on it just because it is simple. Thanks, Heather. U are beautiful because you concern about details :).