Categories
Google

Google Reader’s Inverted Unread Checkbox

I’m not sure who thought it would be a good idea to invert Google Reader’s “read” checkbox, but it’s confusing, and in my opinion an unnecessary UI change. Way to obscure. Before it “checked” meant it was read, unchecked was unread. Now it’s just the opposite. It could have went either way, but the quiet change just isn’t cool.

Read
Google Reader Read

Unread
Google Reader Unread

4 replies on “Google Reader’s Inverted Unread Checkbox”

I don’t seem to have that in my Reader view at the moment, but I imagine the change is to support a feature I’ve been waiting on for a long time (in fact, I’m still a Bloglines user because of it, though that may change now). When it was the other way, it wasn’t sticky; you could mark it unread, but then it would be marked read again when you scrolled past it. Keep unread means keep it unread until I explicitly click to say I’ve read it. This was called “keep as new” in the original Bloglines, and is called “pin” in the Bloglines Beta.

Nevermind, I do have the feature. And it’s kind of what I said above. “Keep unread” is sticky while your scrolling on that section, but it still auto-marks as read when you click back on the section. Still not good enough to get me to use Google Reader. But it’s still a functionality change, not just a random inversion of the old functionality.

@Stephen : What do you mean it still auto-marks ? Indeed with that change once I’ve checked “keep it unread”, it will not uncheck by itself, and stays unread even if i reopen the item several time

When I go to a folder (or feed or tag), and I click on “Keep unread”, it does not uncheck itself as long as I’m on that folder. However, once I leave that folder, and then go back to it, it unchecks the “Keep unread” when I scroll past the item.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *