Wednesday, April 24, 2013

How to subscribe to RSS feeds using TheOldReader.com and Google Chrome

Why I Switched to TheOldReader.com

When Google announced that they would be phasing out Google Reader, I was more than a little disappointed. I loved the Google Reader experience - it's how I keep abreast of the latest animation techniques and also how I stay up-to-date with job postings without having to manually search for updates. After about a month of denial where I continued to use Google Reader, I am now making the transition to my new RSS Reader TheOldReader.com. I selected TheOldReader.com because they offer the closest experience to what I was used to in Google Reader: a clean but bare-bones reader that minimizes distraction.

Subscribing to Feeds in Google Chrome


  1. Install the GoogleChrome RSS Subscription Extension (By Google)
  2. Add TheOldReader.com as your default RSS Reader
    1. Go into your extension settings (file pull down (looks like three horizontal bars) -> Tools -> Extensions
    2. Open the RSS Subscription Extension Options (Scroll to RSS Subscription Extension and click on the small blue options link)
    3. Click on the "Add..." button to add a new feed reader
    4. In the "Description" field enter: The Old Reader
    5. In the url field enter: http://theoldreader.com/feeds/subscribe?url=%s
    6. Choose save
    7. Select The Old Reader, and choose "Make Default"
    8. Turn on "Always use my default reader when subscribing to feeds."
  3. Browse to a page with an RSS
  4. Click on the orange RSS icon that shows up in your URL bar to subscribe