If only Mozilla would create an RSS reader, or bring it back to Firefox. That would be a game changer. People are growing sick of social media and RSS is surging again. What we need is an advert free cross platform Foss client of the quality that Mozilla are uniquely situated to deliver.
That could keep track of feeds you're subbed to, but the problem is keeping track of which posts you've already read. Once you're having to sync all of that, it might as well be a web app.
Why? Firefox Sync already syncs my browsing history, bookmarks, and tabs frequently enough that it appears to be real time from my perspective. What is different about an RSS feed's "read" log?
In my experience, the history and tabs sync when they feel like it. All my stuff ends up there eventually, but I can't expect that I'll sit down, close Firefox on mobile, and have the tabs and history show up on desktop.
This is news stories though. You don't want to read the stories on one machine and have it show up again on another machine.
I suppose it depends on how you consume your feeds: do you look at the latest, like a social media timeline? or read every entry of some blogs, like an inbox? I definitely have some feeds I consume like the latter, and I need that to persist and sync.
Maybe that's the thing - the things I read on my cell phone and the things I read on my computer are fundamentally different. I am surprised that I seem to be in the minority on this, maybe.
Likewise, any information or news delivery product being developed today that doesn't take both mobile and desktop into consideration during planning stages is a product you shouldn't use.
I've read many negative comments about Mozilla every time it's in the news. Although we can acknowledge that there have been some governance missteps, Mozilla has been a consistently positive presence in the modern Web.
> ...create an RSS reader, or bring it back to Firefox.
Here are instructions for using the Feedbro extension:
> Mozilla has been a consistently positive presence in the modern Web.
I don't disagree. What I'm saying is that it would be amazing if they could create a Firefox of RSS or at least bake RSS back into Firefox. Cross platform syncing, no ads and telemetary, free as in beer and freedom, excellent UI, feeds synced across devices, integrated with Firefox somehow, perhaps even some well thought through social features, etc.
Social media displaced rss, but now that so many recognise that social media tends to be toxic, addictive, exploitative, you name the evil, it's a good time reverse this move. RSS is the best way to follow the internet without losing your head.
I’ve got a sense that this is only true in the tech echo chamber. Is RSS really surging in a general way? Zero of the people I’m with right now even know what RSS is.
Meh, ffx is fundamentally an email client. I think it's not a great fit for an RSS reader. Eg in RSS you may want to browse posts with images and snippets, laid out in cards. Eg more like a social media site. Thunderbird lays everything as a list of emails. I'm sure this works for some but I think it's far too narrow in scope.
I honestly can't think of any reason for the one-size-fits-all RSS reader to be in the core functionality of a browser. Extensions seem to be better suited for this purpose, and indeed there are several RSS extensions available for Firefox.
