This morning we all woke up to the new version of Google reader. The biggest change, besides the visual redesign, is the removal of the old share/follow functionality and the integration of posting to Google+. I’m not here to debate the goodness/badness of these changes but to point out one thing that many are missing when it comes to sharing Reader items into Google+.
The most obvious way to do this is to go to the bottom of an item and click on the +1 button. Once you’ve plussed an item you can then click the Share on Google+ link that has appeared. There are however, several problems with this. First, it’s a lot of clicking. Second, in order to share something you are also giving it a +1 which you may not want to do. Third, you are now publically plussing something that you may want to share with a small group, i.e. not publically. (That’s a big privacy gaffe.) Lastly, sharing this way doesn’t give you the ability to change/remove the associated image or remove the associated description; something you can do when you create a new share in Google+.
But wait, there is a way to avoid all of these problems: use the Share… button on the right end of the Google navigation bar at the top of the screen. This gives you the ability to share without having to publically plus an item, allows you to change/remove the associated image, and remove the description. (If you’re having trouble finding it, its between the notification icon and your profile picture in the upper-right. (You can also enlarge the above screenshot.)
I think the new look is awful.
They kept trying to get me to use the new look for gmail, and I kept declining and telling them that it wasted a whole lot of space. At last they stopped asking, and have not forced me into the new look yet, although it annoys the crap out of me that they have moved where “Reader” is on the choice bar, you now have to go to the pull down menu. It would be really nice if they let *you* choose what you wanted there, since most of it is stuff I don’t and won’t use.
Thanks, Michael! I haven’t used Reader for awhile, but reading your post made me go back to it. I agree that some of the “features” aren’t exactly great … and the look & feel is awful … but, there are good points.