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Feedly Mobile Updated With Better Support for Comics

feedlyThe news reading service Feedly rolled out an update late last week which mobile users will probably appreciate. In addition to some bug fixes and performance improvements, Feedly has also added improved support for comics, a feature which I wish other news reader apps would copy.

The update makes it easier for mobile users to see the caption and other concealed text that is sometimes attached to a comic.

Are you familiar with xkcd? That webcomic is well-known for having a second joke buried in the caption or tooltip.  This second joke normally isn’t visible until you scroll your mouse over the image, and then it will appear.

Unfortunately there’s no way for mobile users to scroll their mouse over the image, and that means we miss out on the joke. That is why Feedly has modified how their mobile apps display comics.

The new apps will now show the comic and below the comic will be a button that offers the option of showing the caption. It’s going to look something like this:

002The second button links to the website, of course, while the first button will reveal the caption.

Feedly is describing this update as a beta release, which is why the Android version is only available via the Feedly website, though the iPad and iPhone app is available in iTunes. While there is a new version of Feedly in Google Play, I don’t see a mention of the improved comics support.

I do like this new feature, don’t you? I’ve always been unhappy with the poor comics support in Google Reader Android app, so much so that I usually save xkcd and other complex and subtle webcomics so they can be read in a desktop web browser. But thanks to Feedly I won’t have to do that any more.

TBH I am still using Google Reader; even though it is scheduled to die in a couple months I just can’t bear to part with it. But when I do stop using Google Reader I think Feedly could be the best option. Feedly has been updating both the browser and mobile versions with features that the hard-core Google Reader user needs.

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Comments


Dave Parker May 7, 2013 um 1:21 pm

Great news! This was the only feature I missed from Google Reader.


Paul May 8, 2013 um 9:16 pm

There are some rumors flying around that the netnewswire app might have its own sync service. That might be worth a look if true.

Nate Hoffelder May 8, 2013 um 10:11 pm

Thanks.


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