Blog Tipz

Back in November, I reviewed a number of Firefox add-ons suitable for reading RSS feeds for reading your favorite blogs from within the “world’s favorite browser.”  Now that Firefox has been released and more than eight months have passed, it is time to update that list with the tools that have been updated (and those that have not).

These tools are all highly recommended to check out if you are a blogger or simply want to keep up-to-date with your favorite websites.  In other words, all plugins associated with reading recently updated content or creating feeds has been showcased in this post.  Add-ons are not in any particular order, and images can be clicked on for a full-size preview.

Some of the best readers in this list can serve as off-line readers, especially as alternatives to online readers such as Google Reader and others.

Experimental add-ons are for advanced users and caution should be taken when installing or using these, as they have not been tested by an editor.  You must login to access these add-ons.

Note: It is recommended that you stick with plugins that are compatible with your browser version, either 2 or 3, or the most recent version of the plugin.

50+ Tools for Managing, Reading, Subscribing, or Collaborating Links/Stories with Others

1. DapperFox is an extension that adds a small icon next to the RSS icon in the browser.  Whenever you visit a website, the extension will show you RSS feeds that others have created, as well as create a new feed to share with the community – for sites that do not have its own RSS feed, or doesn’t meet your needs.

The site recommends creating an RSS feed for your wall at Facebook, for any search at YouTube, for your town’s newspaper, and more.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

2. rssPlayPen allows you to interact with your feeds while browsing.  You can drag and drop RSS, Atom, XML, and podcast links and play or view them instantly.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, Not Firefox 3.0
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

3. RSS Validator is an add-on that validates a page using the W3C RSS validator.  It allows you to right click on the page or go to the Tools menu to validate the feed, with results opening in a new tab. 

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.0b4pre, last updated on April 26, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

4. Brief makes reading RSS feeds easier and more intuitive.  It includes a full set of features that people look for in an RSS reader, place on a simple, interactive page, allowing you to bookmark and tag items with a single click.  

Some of the features include headlines, which gives you a compact display, in-browser viewing, keyboard shortcuts, search box, automatic checking, and options/settings for each feed.

Brief has received a 5/5 star rating from 50 reviewers.

Compatibility: Versions 3.0-3.0.*, last updated June 16, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

5.  Atomic is an Atom Publishing Protocol, designed for creating and manipulating Atom feeds.  It is useful as a blogging client or for accessing services such as Google Data.  Good companion to AtomMojo for manipulating feeds in a database.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*
Links:  Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

6. Wizz RSS News Reader Lite is a stripped down version of the Wizz RSS News Reader.  It features many of the functions of the full-featured version, without the Watch List and the weather area.

Some of the additional features include:

• Supports all versions of RSS, Atom 0.3 and 1.0, Podcast (Enclosure) feeds, the Feed protocol
• Integrated with Places
• Filter news items on words and/or phrases
• Feed Search – finds feeds/OPML identification with correct mime types
• Feed items stored locally for a set period of time (changeable)
• Quick Read function to test/preview feeds before adding them
• Supports OPML import and export (from local file or remote host)
• Read all feeds in a category with a single click
• Optionally display sidebar on right hand side or hide read items
• Optional server storage of feeds for easy access from any computer
• Publish feeds on any website
• Integrated Live Bookmark import and support
• Email sharing of news items/feeds using SMTP
• Domain-specific Google search (integrated), Feedster search, Feedbase search
• Gmail checker

Compatibility: Versions 3.0b5-3.0.*
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

7. Monalo Toolbar allows you to show RSS feed headlined in the toolbar, letting you select a list of topics to import headlines from feeds relating to the chosen topic.  Other abilities include notification when there are updates to your RSS feeds, and allows you to share links with others.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-2.0.0.*
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

8. NewsFox is an efficient three-pane e-mail style Atom and RSS feed reader.  You can group feeds, read feed content offline, update feeds, one-click subscription, and read other feeds while updating.  Available in several languages.

5-star rating from 36 reviewers.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, last updated June 4, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

9. 22Pixels Sidekik allows you to add, view, edit, and share all your feeds from a sidebar, so you still have room to work in the main screen area.  Includes several shortcuts for easier access.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-2.0.0.*, Not Version 3.0
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page (Not Available)

10. NewsBar is a tool that places information at the top of the browser, directing you to the original post/story when clicked on.  You can also manage multiple feeds, order them automatically through several methods, and add feeds with a built-in wizard.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page (None)

11. AddThis All-In-One Bookmarking Button allows you to save and collect bookmarks, feeds, podcasts, and product links while searching and is compatible with most bookmarking, feed reader, podcasting, and shopping services.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-2.0.0.*, Not Firefox 3.0
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

12. Enhanced Feed Preview displays feeds using author style sheets (author style sheets), otherwise it will use Firefox’s built-in feed preview.  it displays subscription messages for the feeds which have style sheets, with options for which subscription messages are shown.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0a3, updated February 9, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

13. Wizz RSS News Reader is a more feature-packed version than the “Lite” version, listed above.  It includes everything that the lite version has, so there is no need to go into depth again.  The main features that this version does have, however is more language support, weather reports, as well as more options.

Compatibility: Versions 3.0b5-3.0.*, last updated on June 8, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

14. Reliby is a small tool which reloads all of your Live Bookmarks or RSS feeds with the push of a single button.  Comments have provided rave reviews of this little extension.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.1a1pre, last updated on May 31, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

15. FeedGhost Add-on integrates with the FeedGhost RSS reader, allowing you to subscribe to feeds using FeedGhost, tag we pages with a right click menu or status bar button.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-2.0.0.*, last updated February 6, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

16. Sage-Too is a Firefox 3 port of the original Sage feed reader with added functionality and bug fixes.  This is one of the most popular feed readers for Firefox at this point, with more than ten thousand downloads per week.  Although it is lightweight, it still features many popular and demanded features.

• Reads RSS versions 0.9x, 1.0, 2.0 and Atom Feeds
• Feed Discovery
• Integrates with Firefox’s bookmark storage and Live Bookmarks
• Imports and exports OPML feed lists
• Newspaper feed rendering customizable via style sheets
• Translated into several languages
• Technroati and RSS search engine integration
• Added security, feed parser, tabbing, ad-blocking, cooperation with social bookmarks, automatically mark all items as read, and more

Compatibility: Versions 3.0b5-3.0.*, last updated June 5, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

17. RSS Ticker loads your Live Bookmarks and scrolls the titles of them across the screen while you are browsing the web.  The ticker can be placed in various locations, as it features customizable options for teh display, including the scroll speed, smoothness, and link width.  

Works with either RSS or Atom feeds, or your Live Bookmarks.  The main feature of this add-on versus other news scrollers is the added features and customization.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated on June 19, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

18. PicLens is a full-screen, 3D experience for viewing news feeds, sports feeds, images, videos, and more.  The reason that it was included in this list is because it provides an alternative way to view media RSS-feeds (primarily for photo sites). 

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated on June 16, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

19. Feed Sidebar is an extension that displays the items from your Live Bookmarks in the sidebar.  It’s main purpose is to be a lightweight extension of the RSS capabilities already included in Firefox, rather than a completely new feed management system.  

It includes several options for reading feeds, and uses its own history to track read items, so you can clear the browser history without clearing the feed history.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated on July 7, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

20. Read It Later makes it easy to save pages of interest and read them later – no clutter for sites that you would normally only visit once and delete later.

Features:

• Saves pages to a reading list – for viewing later
• Offline Reading Mode for reading sites with no connection
• RSS Feeds – Automatically adds feeds (requires importing) for viewing within the add-on
• Sync Between Computers allows you to read your feeds from multiple, different computers
• Allows you to bookmark pages on your preferred bookmarking service
• Click to Save Mode – Saves a reading list simply by clicking on interesting links

Compatibility: Versions 3.0b3-3.0.*, last updated on July 7, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

21. Beatnik is a simple, elegant news reader for RSS and Atom feeds.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-2.0.0.*, last updated on November 7, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page  

22. Update Scanner helps you monitor web pages for updates, especially those that don’t provide Atom or RSS feeds.

Features:

• Select update interval
• Changes are automatically highlighted
• Minor changes may be ignored
• Full international support

Compatibility: Firefox 3.0-3.0.*, last updated on June 23, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

23. Read4Me is an XUL Client front end to read4me server, a Python feed reading web service.  It reads Atom or RSS atom feeds and reports how much you will like the articles.  It also includes a server and Firefox extension client.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated on October 25, 2006
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

24. Simple RSS Reader (SRR) is a tool for quickly reading your RSS feeds, with a built-in preview, navigational bar, and setup panel.  Supports all Atom and RSS feeds.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0b3, last updated on March 20, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

25. Google Reader Watcher quickly checks your Google Reader for unread feeds and will display them in the Firefox status bar.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, last updated on May 25, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

26. Sage (a different version) is a lightweight RSS and Atom feed reader.  Features include support for all versions of RSS and Atom feeds, feed discovery, integrates with Firefox’s bookmark system, imports/exports OPML feed lists, includes newspaper feed rendering customizable via style sheets, plus support for multiple languages.

Compatibility: Versions 3.0b1-3.0.*, last updated on June 23, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

27. infoRSS displays RSS/Atom/parsed HTML and NNTP feeds is an a scrolling area in the status bar.  It is also compatible with podcast RSS feeds, which can be directly downloaded.  It also functions as a good Gmail notifier.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.0b3, last updated on March 1, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

28. Skipstor [EXPERIMENTAL] allows you to mark RSS feeds you’re interested in and notifies you of updates.  It allows you to search through all feeds and watch for new ones, and sits in your toolbar, as well as tells you about new items you haven’t read, skipping through those that you don’t want to read/new items.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated on July 13, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

29. feedXI Clipping Tools [EXPERIMENTAL] is an add-on that allows selected content to be saved as a feedXI clipping, which then can be displayed in a variety of widgets.

The widgets can then be placed on websites, and you may merge and filter existing feeds, or extend the information you publish to include clips from anywhere from the web.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated on August 3, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

30. Netvibes [EXPERIMENTAL] adds a Netvibes button to your toolbar and makes Netvibes your default feed reader.  It allows you to quickly and easily add RSS feeds to your Netvibes page.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated on June 10, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

31. FoxBurner [EXPERIMENTAL] allows you to monitor your FeedBurner account – feed’s hits and subscribers.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated on October 15, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

32. LiveLines [EXPERIMENTAL] adds RSS feeds to web-based readers, reader extensions, or desktop readers with the RSS icon in the status bar.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-1.5.0.*, last updated on March 18, 2006
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page  

33. Ecastr Toolbar [EXPERIMENTAL] is a toolbar that enables you to bookmark websites and subscribe to feeds with a single click.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated November 17, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

34. Feedno.nl [EXPIERMENTAL] allows you to add your personal Feedo directly from Firefox.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, last updated June 25, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

35. FeedBag [EXPERIMENTAL] is an add-on that allows you to subscribe to feeds in Liferea, a feed reader for Linux and Unix.  It disables the Live Bookmarks feature for Firefox, and current feeds will be directly added to the Liferea feed list.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-1.5.0.*, last updated on September 26, 2006
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

36. Google Reader Toolkit  [EXPERIMENTAL] is an extension that places an icon in the Firefox status bar, and notifies you if there are any updates to your feed list.  It is based on the Bloglines Toolkit.  A disadvantage is that it doesn’t support authentication, so you need to be logged in to the service.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0, last updated on June 16, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

37. Iris  [EXPERIMENTAL] is an extension that displays Google Reader subscriptions in the Firefox sidebar.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-1.5.0.*, last updated on July 11, 2006
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

38. gReader Comments [EXPERIMENTAL] is a Greasemonkey script-turned-extension that brings Disqus conversations into Google Reader.  All entries have a comment thread, and you will be able to join the existing conversation for blogs that use Disqus.  Includes Disqus and Bookmarklets functionality.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, last updated on May 19, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

39. RichFeedButton [EXPERIMENTAL] allows you to use one button to subscribe to feeds in programs such as Thunderbird, the clipboard.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.0b4pre, last updated on June 23, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

40. Intranet Feed Reader [EXPERIMENTAL] is an intranet feed reader and collaboration tool useful for part of a developer’s dashboard.  It can display any intranet feed, useful for information necessary for day-to-day work.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, updated June 14, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

41. BlogRovr fetches post from your favorite blogs, and shows you summaries of the posts, without having to leave the page you were on.  It also suggests popular items and lets you Twitter about any site you’re on.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated May 18, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

42. OPML Reader is a feed reader for any OPML Autodiscovery enabled page.  Choose between Optimized OPML browser and Grazr.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.1a1pre, last updated on November 22, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

43. Better GReader allows you to preview web pages inline in Google Reader, collapse the header and sidebar for more reading area, and get additional skins, add Favicons, and more.

Compatibility: Versions 0.8-3.0.*, last updated on July 6, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

44. Habari Xenu [EXPERIMENTAL] is a news aggregator and reader that is compatible with almost all versions of RSS, RDF, and Atom syndication feeds.

Compatibility: Versions 0.8-1.5.0.*, last updated on December 4, 2005
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

45. Launchbeat Launch Me [EXPERIMENTAL] is a service that allows simplified sharing of links, using RSS feeds.  You can send your “friends” the feed name and everyone can contribute.  If your feed has a password, you can share it with friends and get some exclusivity.  

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.0.*, last updated on June 7, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

46. FeedBurner Subscribers [EXPERIMENTAL] sits in the status bar so it does not affect your browsing experience, track any valid FeedBurner Feed with Feed Awareness.  You can also view readers and/or hits to your feed, options to show or not to show labels for your readers and/or hits, and finally, right clicking the icon takes your directly yo your MyFeeds page.  It uses the FeedBurner API so all calls to FeedBurner are completely legitimate.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, last updated on June 25, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

47. Symbaloo Bookmarker [EXPERIMENTAL] allows you to easily and quickly add sites and feeds to your Symbaloo desktop, and easily access your favorite sites and services.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.0.*, last updated on June 27, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

48. Buru Picker [EXPERIMENTAL] is a tool that lets you store bookmarks and add RSS feeds, saved to your collection with one click.  

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated on July 7, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

49. Headlines Ticker [EXPERIMENTAL] is a small tool for showing RSS and Atom headlines on the status bar. 

Compatibility: Versions 3.0-3.1a1pre, last updated on July 13, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

50. Fizzle [EXPERIMENTAL] is a RSS and Atom feed reader that uses your Livemark bookmark feeds.  There is a small orange feed button located in the location bar, which will be present when a RSS or Atom feed is available for that site. 

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated on March 27, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

This list and the growing number of updated/available feed readers is a good indication that there are more RSS readers/tools becoming available for use with Firefox (compared with the sixteen I found in November).  However, more of these need to be kept up-to-date or taken over and/or ported to the new version by other developers.