Vienna: A RSS Reader for Mac OS X
After finding Vienna on a list of recommended Mac utilities, I downloaded and installed the free RSS reader. I have never used a standalone RSS reader but the format was much like an email client so it was familiar and easy to use. Vienna downloads recent articles from your subscriptions and tracks which postings you have read. The interface is clean and the software is very stable.
I really like the ability to have all my favorite blog subscriptions downloaded automatically and in one centralized interface. It saves a surprising amount of time. I can also search through all the posting with Vienna’s robust search tool, or link an item of interest to my own blog. In order to do this, you must have a blog publishing client, such as MarsEdit, installed on your Mac.
Vienna also has a built-in browser based on Safari, so links from RSS articles can be opened directly in Vienna. Although the browser supports tabs, the “Open in New Tab” command automatically focuses the browser on the new tab. This behavior is unlike Firefox which opens the new tab but does not change your view from the current page. I prefer Firefox’s implementation because I usually will finish the article I am reading before I reference the support material.
UPDATE: To change the above link behavior select “Open Links in Background” under Preferences.
Vienna appears to be well support by its publisher which is something that is uncommon in free-ware. Vienna has become one of the applications that I never close.