NetNewsWire 5.0

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “There are no second acts in American lives”. Brent Simmons and NetNewsWire prove otherwise. Brent is one of my closest friends, so take my perspective with a grain of salt if you wish, but I just love this app. It is fast, small, and remarkably stable. It looks and feels and acts exactly how a modern Mac app should — and at same time it feels and acts exactly like the NetNewsWire of a decade ago. It is scriptable and accessible, of course. And it is free of charge and open source.

I’d write more, but Josh Ginter has written a spot-on review for The Sweet Setup, and he pretty much nails it. He begins with this quote from Shawn Blanc, writing about NetNewsWire 12 years ago:

What makes NetNewsWire so great is that it at once appeals to every level of user.

For the basic user who checks a few feeds once a day, NNW provides a familiar and friendly environment. For an average user who has several dozen feeds to keep up on, NNW is quick and effective. And even the power user, who lives and breathes inside their feed reader, will discover that NNW has the horsepower to feed their need for feeds.

Being usable for everyone from beginners to experts is so hard to do, and is a hallmark of great consumer applications.

★ Thursday, 29 August 2019