I forked Feeds again lol
At this point it feels like a running gag; I forked my app Feeds yet again to serve another purpose.
For those who may not know, I built a small minimal RSS reader using just Bun as a way to get a list of links instead of a formal reader. Then I rewrote it in Rust. Then Go. And then I made a TUI version of it called Bullets. I’ve posted about this dumb app so many times now but I promise it’s different this time, sorta.
I realized that my little app, with a few small tweaks, could serve as a great introduction to RSS. Instead of a wall of text explaining the technical details of RSS that no one cares about, or making them go through the process of downloading an app or making an account with a service, I could just give them feeds.
Yes the full version of this app as part of Andromeda has an admin page where the person self hosting the app can add feeds and do all sorts of cool stuff, but one of the original features I always loved using was a simple URL query parameter that lets you “preview” multiple feeds:
https://feeds.software?url=feed1,feed2
Then I realized I could add a small explainer paragraph, provide some example feed buttons, then just put the user right into a feed of posts. The user can just experience RSS in a few clicks and see the value for themselves.
That’s what I’ve been polishing for the last week or so, and I’m excited to release Feeds once again. Please do check it out, share it with a friend, and tell me how I can improve it for others!