All data is stored in a single directory that can be put on a USB stick, making RSSOwl a cross platform portable application that is easy to use and manage. to read your favorite newsgroups inside RSSOwl as if they where newsfeeds.
An integrated update manager keeps the application up to date and provides extra add-ons, e.g. You can also easily import existing feeds from other readers into RSSOwl using the popular OPML format. RSSOwl requires no installation, simply start it with a doubleclick and find a huge list of sample feeds already provided. Some of the cool features are powerful searches, embedded browser, tray notifications, clean-up wizard and complete user customization. RSSOwl runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris. You'll find RSSOwl's "big eyes" a big help when scanning the Web's vast array of RSS resources. Why "Owl"? The owl is a traditional symbol of wisdom, and a quiet, efficient hunter.
It lets you gather, organize, update, and store information from any compliant source in a convenient, easy to use interface, save selected information in various formats for offline viewing and sharing, and much more. Applications that collect data from RSS-compliant sites are called RSS readers or "aggregators". RSS ("Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary") is a document specification that gives users the power to collect and organize Web-based news and information in a more efficient manner.
According to the extension's page, Drop Feeds was inspired by the legacy add-ons, Sage feed reader and Sage++.RSSOwl is a free RSS / RDF / Atom Newsreader in Java using SWT as fast graphic library. The add-on comes with a script manager which you can use to add custom scripts for the feeds.
Advanced users may set up security filters to prevent HTML and CSS elements from loading in feeds. The extension has an option for exporting its own OPML file. If you're coming from a feedreader service or application, you can export the OPML (list of subscribed feeds) and import it to Drop Feeds. Define the update checker settings, new tab behaviour (for opening feeds), switch to various themes including a dark theme. Drop Feeds stores your feeds in its own bookmarks folder which you can customize. The extension's options page has quite a few settings that you can toggle. Similarly, the article list (the second pane) has options to mark posts as read, unread, it also allows you to open unread articles in new tabs and hide the ones you've read. The info option lets you rename the feed or change its address.
You can use this context menu to create different folders, mark a feed as read/unread, delete it. Subscribe or filter the feeds with the fourth and fifth icons. The second, as we saw earlier, discovers feeds from the current web page. The first icon on the top pane's toolbar refreshes all feeds. While it's useful for previewing a post, it's not very reader-friendly. When you click on an article, a text-only version of it is loaded in the third pane. The middle pane in the sidebar lists all available articles from the current feed, and bold titles indicate unread articles. Selecting a different feed loads it in a new tab. You can close the Drop Feeds sidebar to read the current feed in the browser. This is a proper RSS reader, complete with images and clickable links. Click on a feed and the add-on opens it a new tab to load the latest articles, in the large pane to the right. A bold feed name indicates that it contains unread articles. Now that you've subscribed to a feed, it should appear in the top pane of the sidebar. Paste the RSS Feed link in the box and select subscribe. If you'd rather use a URL for adding a feed, click on the "Options" button in the top pane (last icon on the toolbar), and select "Subscribe by URL". The way this works kind of reminds me of the Want My RSS extension, but Drop Feeds comes with its own reader, so that's a nice bonus.