Feedly has made a big play to take over from Google Reader – we show you how you can benefit from switching.The demise of Google Reader led to a flurry of activity among the other news feed and reader apps – new updates appeared every week, with slicker interfaces and features aimed at luring in those Google users.
Feedly has made headlines for its strong campaign push to be the new Reader, even offering seamless migration of your Google Reader content to Feedly if you switched early on. It was impressive marketing, and thankfully it’s backed up by a service that can stand up to its own claims of being a real alternative. Feedly looks great for starters, with an understated yet content rich interface that makes it easy for users to see their news on screen in a way they want.
The pages themselves strip back hefty news sites and turn them into ‘cards’ of stories that can be swiped through. The visual noise is gone, leaving just the stories for you to find and enjoy. From here you can share stories across a great range of platforms as well as jump straight to the main webpage if you so wish.
If the personalized news feed isn’t enough customization power for you, it’s also possible to save articles to read later, when time is less pressing. Here we show you how to take advantage of all the cool things Feedly has to offer.
How to use your Feedly
The key areas you need to know about
1. Search
Jump to the search section to find new sources to follow. You can look for these by either using the marked sections on offer, or the search term bar above.
2. Settings
This button allows you to tweak the way your stories are presented, as well as manually refresh the news feed for any new stories.
3. Home
Tap this button in the top-left of the screen to return to the main area of the app, from which you can choose a different section to browse through.
4. The Feed
All the latest stories from your chosen sources appear here, each one opening into a full screen when tapped and marking itself as read once you’ve finished viewing it.
Read articles anywhere
When you save articles for later these sync across all of your devices – so even if you found the story quickly on your smartphone, it will be waiting for you when you pick your tablet up later.
1.Search
Having logged in and set up your account, you now need some news. Hit the search button to get started, and you’ll see a great selection of themed tiles as well as a green search term bar.
2. Sections
The best way to get some sources on your feed is to go by section. Tap on a section tile and a list of sites will appear. Hit the plus sign next to the relevant name to add it to your news feed.
3. Stories
Now you can read through your news at your leisure. Tap the top-left home icon and choose from individual sections or display all stories at once. They’ll appear as easy-to-digest cards.
4. Save For later
If you think that you want to come back to an article later, there’s a handy save button next to the Twitter icon on every story.
5. Share
Feedly has a host of social features. There’s a dedicated Twitter button but also links to Facebook, Google+ and more via the share icon.
6. Customize your Feed
Browse articles by section and even by individual news source via the home toolbar. Simply tap a section name of the site name.
