Roy and Rianne's Righteously Royalty-free RSS Reader (R.R.R.R.R.R.) and the Front-End Interfaces
THOSE who follow our developments more closely (or "development", neither plural nor singular) probably noticed R.R.R.R.R.R.
Some time in the past we began developing our own tools for dealing with (reading, curating, managing) RSS feeds, seeing that keeping on top of 1,000+ sites is hard, especially if some of them are very rarely updated and some feeds are malformed (improperly structured).
As the Web deteriorates the availability, quality and prevalence of RSS feeds is not improving, to put it mildly. We must adapt.
Neglect of syndication tools (other than "apps" and social control media) means that many RSS/Atom files will never get fixed. When reported to the sites some won't even bother responding. Some sites don't even know they have RSS/Atom files (or what they are!).
This past week R.R.R.R.R.R. was improved (Git shows latest changes, one can check these using a Gemini client) after some discussions with sites we follow closely and appreciate.
What does that mean to the ordinary person? First, R.R.R.R.R.R. is Free software, so anyone can download and run a copy. Second, we've been getting better (and faster) at posting Daily Links.
Sometimes tailoring software to one's needs takes time, even a lot of time, but that software can then save a lot of time. R.R.R.R.R.R. reduces clicking by putting a long list of news in one single page, whereupon tabs can be opened to expand and study entries of interest (in turn).
There's currently no detailed manual for installation of R.R.R.R.R.R., but usage options are shown clearly and the hardest part is fetching the required dependencies...
R.R.R.R.R.R. is still work in progress and perhaps some time in the coming years it can be packaged to make installation trivial. We considered making a GUI for it, but GUIs mean more dependencies and less flexibility. A standalone GUI front-end (to craft callbacks for a command line back-end) is feasible, but maybe worth pursuing at a later stage when more users of the software exist.
My wife and I aren't the only ones using R.R.R.R.R.R. When we run it we use a front-end ncurses-based wrapper, which is shown below. That menu is triggered with CTRL+ALT+9 using xbindkeys. █
When R.R.R.R.R.R. is chosen:
