new version breaks several functions !!!

[hpw]

I installed the new version today and it breaks all kinds of things:

- when reading a group, read/shown articles are not marked read

- the options for next and previous page and x10 where behaving logical in the last version. now the next option jumps me to the next unread group without warning and WITH switching all items to read. I can get used to this but right now it is not a nice surprise (I lost a large unread-count on a group with important information this way).

- in the previous version the x10 option switched all unread items in a group visible AND updated the unread count to 'all read' for that particullar group. Keeping track of read and unread items was a snap that way, but not anymore.

I hope these things can get resolved as soon as possible, right now the program is actually unuseable for me in this state. I loved the behaviour of the program so far, but now it has lost quite a bit of it's appeal. If this new behaviour is actually being wanted by users, maybe it is possible to make it switcheable in the program preferences. Besides, is it possible to revert to the previous version for the time being ? If not I might need to switch back to another reader

[hpw]

Just found another one: when there are less items in a group than the amount set to view at once in the preferences, then the x10 option jumps to the first unread item in the group, neclecting the whole group viewing process.

[Jack]

d'oh!

x10 is a huge bug somehow didn't get caught before release. A new build(still called build 274) has been put online an hour ago to address this issue.

I should have warned in installer about this new Next Page behavior. It's primarily designed to relieve user from manually marking news items as read. But it looks like not everyone want this kind of automation.

[Jack]

Can I ask how do you mark items read in previous versions? Do you use the "Mark current page as read after N seconds" or mark read manually?

Thanks.

[Guest]

Can I ask how do you mark items read in previous versions? Do you use the "Mark current page as read after N seconds" or mark read manually?

I use the N seconds option... but it didn't seem to work anymore after the upgrade. I looked around in the preferences but didn't see the setting anymore (well, might have missed it).

Here's my reading behaviour (and why I like greatnews so much till now) :

- hit the first group, tree expands, unread items show in reading pane, if needed I hit x10, read across all new items using the scrollwheel, items switch to read-states after N seconds.
- hit the next group.....

I currenly have close to 150 feeds (and counting) that are updated hourly. The only actions I need to perform is to click on a group with new items, if needed click x10 and scroll across. Keeping up to date with greatnews takes only half the time then when I'm using any other reader (actually, there is one other that does very much the same and then some, but it needs .NET. For your info it is saucereader, has some great options as well but I HATE .NET !).

[Guest]

Another thing about the next-option jumping to the next unread group:

This is actually a good thing but I found what is going wrong with it's behaviour. This behaviour is OK if it would honour the setting in the preferences 'mark previous channel as read when switching channels'.

I also checked again for the setting on 'N seconds to switch read' but it isn't in the preferences (anymore).

[hpw]

sorry, forgot to add my name on the above posts. both are mine

[Jack]

"the N seconds mark read" function was removed because there are senarios that news can get marked read automatically and flushed away by new items without user noticing. You probably won't have this problem as you primarily read at group level.

The Next> link actually only marks last page as read, it doesn't mark the whole channel or group. It works pretty much just like the N-second function, but much more reliable. After all, users turn pages because they have finished reading current page.

To minimize the impact of the change, I have added a new option in build 275, so user can choose from staying on the last page or open next unread.

Now hope everybody is happy!

[hpw]

"the N seconds mark read" function was removed because there are senarios that news can get marked read automatically and flushed away by new items without user noticing. You probably won't have this problem as you primarily read at group level.

The Next> link actually only marks last page as read, it doesn't mark the whole channel or group. It works pretty much just like the N-second function, but much more reliable. After all, users turn pages because they have finished reading current page.

I liked the N-seconds option as now it means I have to do an extra click. It's still not replacing my previous use. I can see that the new options CAN replace my previous behaviour but there is still one thing that goes wrong: as I'm reading at group-level, the next-option is currently jumping to the next unread CHANNEL instead of the next unread GROUP. If you can add an option in the preferences to control this (next jump to group OR channel) then all will be great(news) again.

To minimize the impact of the change, I have added a new option in build 275, so user can choose from staying on the last page or open next unread.

Now hope everybody is happy!

In any case I'm very happy with your quick responses and ongoing support.

[Jack]

This is already implemented in build 275. The Next link will open next unread channel or group depending on user is currently reading channel or group.

[hpw]

It's working as you say now. Still it all feels much more clumsy then before. I will think about a possible better workflow behaviour. If I come up with a usefull idea I let you know. For now it's enough to keep me using greatnews

[Jack]

I understand people get frustrated when they have to change habits. If you see someway more intuitive please let me know.

The initial motivation to develop GreatNews is to allow me to scan through rss feeds as fast as possible - I read 100+ feeds everyday too. Usually I maximize the reading pane (hide both news list and tree) so the Newspaper style can fully utilize screen real estate. The new Next> behavior makes the reading experience a bit smoother as I don't need to check the tree back and forth now. But this is just a personal reading habit, everyone's different.