Last week, Chrome updated its guidance for site owners looking to have readers 'Follow' their sites, asking them to make feed titles descriptive and to select a single feed for readers instead of offering multiple sections.Ĭhrome-watching blogs like to raise the specter of Google Reader in headlines when discussing Google's attempts to turn apps and devices into content hubs. There's some ambiguity there-but also evidence that Google is sticking with its long-gestating efforts to harness the open RSS standard in the Google ecosystem of 'Follow.' AdvertisementĮnlarge / Google's 'Follow' button, now appearing in Chrome Canary builds. will use to communicate with the browser.' Tofel writes that the underlying code of the feature 'strongly suggests' an RSS-based feed reader, based on the specific language of 'web feeds.' Then again, that same code section, powering the interaction between browser and sidebar, notes that it will be 'the interface that Discover Feed content. Kevin Tofel of About Chromebooks thinks so. Enabling that #following-feed-sidepanel flag (now also available in Chrome's testing build, Canary) adds another option to the sidebar: Feed.įeeds? Like RSS feeds, the kind we once had in dear, departed Google Reader, slain for the sins of Google+? Over the weekend, the Chrome Story blog noticed a new flag in Gerrit, the unstable testing build of Chrome's open source counterpart Chromium. It's unlikely, but never say never when it comes to Google product decisions.Ĭhrome added a sidebar for browsing bookmarks and Reading List articles back in March. Tucked away inside a recent bleeding-edge Chrome build is a 'Following feed' that has some bloggers dreaming of the return of Google Reader.

Does Google enjoy teasing and sometimes outright torturing some of its products' most devoted fans? It can seem that way.

Chrome feed reader