I am one of those tragics that miss Google Reader and the end of that product, really changed how many people consumed news. Many of us found our way to alternatives like Feedly, or simply transitioned to sourcing news through our social networks.
Google Reader has been around for a long time, but never really sat well with me, a little like the Reddit front page, the design matters, a lot. Google News is getting a big design refresh which is clean, and modern and actually makes consuming news from a variety of sources a pleasant experience.
The main feed ‘Your briefing’ is fed by the topics you follow. If you go explore new topics, you simply click follow in the top right and it’ll be added to your briefing. After you’re done skimming the latest headlines, you can also dive into dedicated topics, sources, or locations.
My only struggle with the redesign is that there’s no delineation between a news source that features a paywall, compared to one that doesn’t. As a user, I’d love the ability to filter out paywalls, knowing I’m not paying $5.99 per month to read a single article from time to time.
For those looking for dark mode support, Google News certainly offers that through the setting menu, and can also respond to your operating system setting.
Let us know in the comments if you’ve used the new Google Reader, and what you think about the redesign.
