How to read RSS feeds 50% faster on a UMPC or Tablet PC

Recently, I've been asked by several jkOTR readers for RSS reader recommendations. It's a matter of personal preference to be sure and after experimentation, I've stuck with Google Reader since early this year. I do such a large amount of feed reading on my seven-inch UMPC that I need something easy to navigate and use. With Google Gears now adding offline capability, it's going to be hard to displace this service on my Q1P.

While Google's RSS reader is among the easiest and quickest to navigate, it works best with the many keyboard shortcuts but there lies an issue with a slate-style UMPC or Tablet PC: no keyboard.

Sounds like the perfect scenario for programmable hardware keys, no? Many, if not most, slate devices offer some type of hardware key programming. Every model is different, but let me share the method I use on the Samsung Q1P running Vista. I'm using Samsung's Easy Button Manager, but the concept can be applied to whatever application your device supports for hardware buttons.

First off, I spent a good few days using Google Reader with a standard notebook and keyboard. Why did I do this? Two reasons: first, I wanted to see which keyboard shortcuts I used most in my workflow. Second, I had tried to use my Bluetooth keyboard and UMPC with Google Reader but the shortcut keys didn't work for some reason.

Once I knew which shortcuts I used the most, it was just a matter of creating a new shortcut group in Easy Button Manager: I called mine "Google Reader". Hey, you don't get extra points for creativity, but you might get them for productivity in this exercise. :)

Based on my usage pattens, I use the next and previous feed item shortcuts the most. Pressing J and K quickly moves me through items in a feed, essentially moving me up and down a list. Logically then, I assigned these to the "up" and "down" keys; technically these are the U1 and U3 buttons.

The next-used shortcut I use is the S key, which stars items for later: these are the ones I revisit for blogging or reading in full. I assign the "left" button, or U4 for this purpose, leaving me one last available key: U2. For a few hours, I couldn't decide what to assign here, but the answer hit me after I further evaluated my reading habits. I realized that full feeds required scrolling on the 800 x 480 screen, so I actually assigned a standard web browser shortcut: the spacebar. Tapping this button scrolls the feed page down so I can keep reading without any interruption.

In the end, here's what my key mapping looks like:

If you use Google Reader on a UMPC or slate Tablet PC, should you use the same mapping? It all depends, and I highly recommend you evaluate how you navigate though Google Reader or whatever RSS reader you use. Once you've done that, you'll know what shortcuts you need and what shortcuts you can live without. I can say that I get through my feed items at least 50% faster with these keys as opposed to tapping and scrolling on the screen. Give this approach a try and see how much time you save!

Comments

[Christopher Welle]

Hi Kevin,

Great post. I actually use my Q1U as my primary RSS Feeder. The keyboard on the sides allow me to thumb the shortcut keys without issue. I blogged about it here. http://www.christopherwelle.com/2007/06/google-reader-q-bert.html

Christopher

[Josh Bancroft]

If I had a Q1, that's definitely the way I'd go. In fact, I think I did during the week I had one, since Google Reader is easily the most used app on any computer I use.

I find that the d-pad and page up/page down dedicated hardware keys on my Asus R2H really work well with Google Reader. So much so, that I just naturally use them, and have never found myself wishing for other keyboard shortcuts.

Of course, the best way to do it is how Christopher is doing it - just get a Q1 Ultra with a thumboard. :-)

[Ramzi Dziri]

Hi Kevin,

I expected to find in your recommended list, U key which allows a much better reading experience on 7" screen by hiding the list of feeds sources ;)

[Ryan Sutton]

I use 'Spacebar' for down exclusvly, mainly because on a regular laptop that is the most natural. So on my Q1 I had U3 mapped to space almost as soon as it came out of the box.

Another speedy tactic I use to browse through feeds in google reader is just hold the cursor down button, on the Q1 it scrolls at a readable speed (laptops move way to quick for this). The idea is not to read the whole story, but to decide if I wish to stop and take a closer look at the article.

[Tony]

I've found that the Q1's joystick works quite well for scrolling up and down the page. My U-keys are mapped the same as Kevin suggested with the exception of one key being mapped to "u" instead of the spacebar to quickly show/hide the feed list.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

No question the analog stick works great for scrolling up and down on a web page. I don't like it for reading feeds because it's too slow for my reading. I'm a headline reader and a content skimmer, so if scrolled line by line I'd never get through my feeds. Hiding the feedlist (suggested by two folks) doesn't work for me personally. I move around from feed to feed to quickly to hide and unhide them all the time, but for other folks, this is a great suggestion!