Google Reader Replacement Redux with a Twist

July 3, 2013 9:31 AM

I need a very basic web-based feed reader, but I have extreme limitations. (See inside for more.)

I work for The Man. As a consequence, I am forced to use IE7, and it's version 7.0.6002. This is the only browser allowed. No downloads are permitted. Installation of other browsers is not permitted. Flash and other multimedia programs are mostly non-functional, unless you're viewing a site on two specific domains. Javascript used to work, but now crashes the browser about 50% of the time.

Before you suggest it, we also use Outlook, but the RSS function is disabled. (We also cannot access webmail, but that's a whole other issue.)

Given all of these constraints, is there a simple, web-based feed reader that I can use? I've tried Feedly, Newsblur and the Old Reader. None of those sites are functional for me here.

posted by ereshkigal45 to Technology (15 answers total)

You can try InoReader. It uses lots of Javascript, but it might be worth a shot.
posted by deadmessenger at 9:34 AM on July 3, 2013

Seconding Inoreader if it works for you. I've been using it solely for the past month, and it works just as I want it to.
posted by General Malaise at 9:43 AM on July 3, 2013

My husband uses IE8 and is in a similar predicament to the OP, and Inoreader doesn't work for him.
posted by KathrynT at 9:57 AM on July 3, 2013

Another option might be one of the RSS to email services, so all your feeds come into Outlook as emails.
posted by COD at 10:05 AM on July 3, 2013

Response by poster: I just tried InoReader, and I can't even get the page to fully load.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 10:12 AM on July 3, 2013

Is there any chance you can run something like Firefox Portable?
posted by General Malaise at 10:27 AM on July 3, 2013

Response by poster: Ah. Yes. Well. The problem with that would be that The Man prohibits the use of any USB devices except for those which it has issued. I can't even use the USB port to charge my phone. Sigh.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 11:56 AM on July 3, 2013

Try CommaFeed.
posted by devinemissk at 12:17 PM on July 3, 2013

Response by poster: CommaFeed is no go.

I guess I am just out of luck for now. Thanks, all, for the suggestions.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 1:52 PM on July 3, 2013

If portable USB drives are a specific No-No, are CD/DVD disks also specifically forbidden? If you have a CD drive, you could burn a copy of Firefox on to a CD-R and use it that way...?

(Yeah, long shot.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:50 PM on July 3, 2013

There is Hive (formerly HiveMined). It's got a wait-list to sign up, unfortunately. I can memail you my login if you want to try it out, since I've pretty much settled into NewsBlur at this point.
posted by jraenar at 3:33 PM on July 3, 2013

So, I work with an open source social journaling site that has simple feed capabilities:

http://dreamwidth.org/

IE7 is NOT supported by the site specifically. HOWEVER, Dreamwidth is designed to be accessible and in general tries to work without JavaScript on/working. There is some functionality JS only but it is likely to end up being made into a version supported without JS than opposite, and this functionality is not needed by you at work. (The thing I am thinking of is subscription filters, which would allow you to partition your feeds into groups for reading: http://www.dreamwidth.org/manage/subscriptions/filters which could be done when you are not at work and then used after) Adding feeds is clunky but can be done here:

http://www.dreamwidth.org/feeds/

If there's a feed you read that does not already exist in the system, you will need to give it a name. You will also need to find a journal theme that does not totally degrade with IE7, or take an existing one and give it new CSS to do so. You can then visit your "reading" page and see recent posts from your feeds when they end up updated. It's not going to be as fast as Google Reader, mind you, but given your constraints it might be better than nothing.

If you run into trouble using Dreamwidth for feed reading given your restraints, feel free to MeMail me--I do programming work for them here and there and while I can't promise to attend to it immediately, I can see if there's something I can make happen.
posted by foxfirefey at 7:09 PM on July 3, 2013

I know Bloglines has been around forever, but I don't know how much they've upgraded.

And I've seen at least one article lately talking about how outdated the Yahoo newsreader is. That might be good news for you.
posted by timepiece at 8:39 PM on July 3, 2013

digg reader is very simple, sign up for the beta and check if it works.

And try portable Firefox.
posted by sockpuppetdirect at 6:06 AM on July 4, 2013

Response by poster: are CD/DVD disks also specifically forbidden?

Yes.

There is Hive (formerly HiveMined). It's got a wait-list to sign up, unfortunately.

The site isn't blocked, so that's good news. I've signed up for an account. We'll see what happens.

If you run into trouble using Dreamwidth for feed reading given your restraints

I wish you could help me, but Dreamwidth is "Blocked by the URL Filter Database" as a "Social Networking" site.

digg reader is very simple

"Internet Explorer 8 and older versions are not currently supported."

I know Bloglines has been around forever, but I don't know how much they've upgraded.

And I've seen at least one article lately talking about how outdated the Yahoo newsreader is.

These two *might* work. I'm going to play around with them in my spare time and see how far I get.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll close this out now.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 8:55 AM on July 16, 2013