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Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reader (Google Reader alt)

Hi everyone,

The people who use RSS today are power users. By the general user, Twitter is used as a replacement service for RSS by allowing people to follow websites. Twitter was not designed for this.

Briefly: Sbscribe is as easy to use as Twitter, but powered by RSS and tailored for discovering and sharing content in one interface.

https://vimeo.com/69376016

For all the content you currently discover and monitor using bookmarks, RSS feed readers like Google Reader, and social networks such as Twitter — Sbscribe offers the same experience, in one place.

This is an idea I had three years ago when I realised the value of socially curated news through platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. At the same time, I noticed my non-technical friends were 'following' websites on Twitter. Sbscribe really aims to separate these two concerns — you follow people, and subscribe to websites. It has been in development since January.

I'm planning on launching a private alpha of Sbscribe in August some time (shortly followed by a public beta in October), and I've got a slew of ideas for how I can improve the "subscription graph", as well as plans for a mobile web app. I've gotten to a point where I would really appreciate some feedback on improving the concept and UI. It's also a good time to spread the message with the recent shutdown of Google Reader.

FYI: The service is backed by Node.js, MongoDB, and Redis, and on the front-end I am using Backbone.js and Marionette.js. It would also be great to talk with other developers familiar with this stack.

Oliver

( 13 comments | 38 points | on HN )
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by bjtitus on Monday July 08, 2013 @12:14PM (#6007497)
Looks great!

A couple things:

- Instead of saying "subscribed" and "following" say "unsubscribe" and "unfollow" and change the colors (Twitter does it this way). That way I know what that button is going to do when I click on it.

- The top bar seems unnecessary except for search. If your avatar/username are linked to your profile, all of the buttons would be duplicates. Not saying that will work in the long run or be totally discoverable, but I think it could help. You could move the search box to the left hand pane or something if you got rid of the bar.

Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by OliverJAsh on Monday July 08, 2013 @04:01PM (#6008915)
Thanks. I'll take both of those into account :-)
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by roldie on Monday July 08, 2013 @12:49PM (#6007684)
Looks great! I think you've found the right balance between RSS readers and Twitter.

Just for clarity, Sbscribe is a self-contained social network? One follows someone else's Sbscribe profile, not their Twitter profile?

Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by OliverJAsh on Monday July 08, 2013 @03:03PM (#6008516)
Thank you! And yes, that's right.
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by mrtomahawk on Wednesday July 10, 2013 @01:12PM (#6021225)
Any plans for adding tags for items which a user favorites, or could you talk a little about how the favorites work? Can I share my favorites? Are they public/private?
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by Ashuu on Monday July 08, 2013 @01:00PM (#6007758)
Wonderful! I was looking for such a Google Reader alternative. Looks great too!
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by gr3yman on Monday July 08, 2013 @11:46AM (#6007332)
I'm interested. Sign me up for the Alpha/Beta/whatever!
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by meerita on Monday July 08, 2013 @11:29AM (#6007241)
Bet you bootstraped all the design. Looks fantastic. Is it 2.3.2?
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by OliverJAsh on Monday July 08, 2013 @11:32AM (#6007262)
I didn't use Bootstrap, but I quite clearly took a lot of inspiration from Twitter.
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by meerita on Monday July 08, 2013 @07:20PM (#6010063)
Wow. Why that? You could build around Bootstrap anyways without any harm. I got tired of doing a new framework each time I start a project.
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by TsiCClawOfLight on Wednesday July 10, 2013 @10:11AM (#6019662)
wow, this looks amazing! If you need any more beta testers, I'd be glad to join in.
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by Ramario on Monday July 08, 2013 @12:48PM (#6007678)
Looks very cool. Great design
Re:Ask HN: Review my app – Sbscribe, a social RSS feed reade... by benguild on Monday July 08, 2013 @04:59PM (#6009252)
Cool