Google has updated it’s RSS reader visually as well as adding some features that users have requested.
Announced on the Google Reader blog, firstly they’ve cleaned up the look, removing what Google calls "visual clutter" – choosing to keep the colours toned down a bit, in comparison to the old reader. On the left, noticeably, the menus are condensed a little more, with logical groups, collapsible to save space if needed – including the whole menu if needs be. And the other major change? The ability to hide your unread counts! I’m guessing that people didn’t like the idea of being told how many unread items they had! Personally I just click the button at the top of the screen that says "mark all as read" but it seems that some people were getting a complex about it…
Other than that, the reader works the same way as before so it shouldn’t be too much of a shock when you go to use it. Bare in mind, that much like anything Google, you may have to wait a few days before you see the new look yourself. In fact, in the space of writing this article, my own Google Reader has been morphing slowly into the new version before my very eyes! Even though it’s a new look, and functionality is the same, I’m guessing there are plenty of people out there that will be complaining about it – just because it’s different and they weren’t told about it. And if you haven’t used Google Reader before, perhaps now is the perfect opportunity to take the the aggregator for a spin.