Features Your Newsreader Should Have

What features specifically would you like to see in your newsreader? Knowing full well of course that everyone has different interests when it comes to the news, there should be a standard of some type by which to judge an acceptable newsreader.

Hierarchy And Relevance

Whereas you will be expected to organize your reader by what holds the most importance for you, too many newsreaders flatten all items into the same importance, style and format. This is very unlike the front page of a newspaper, which not only sports some type of infographic and some teasers, but of course the main story as a headline. The decision-making process could be greatly assisted by some sense of hierarchy on the part of newsfeed readers and the RSS. Front pages are curated on newspapers; what you need is an intelligent newsreader that thinks on the same lines. Your newsreader should also rank stories on their level of relevance as they pertain to your interests. Too much information and the human reader will simply click off due to information overload. Not all stories about your interests are of relevance; too many stories about one thing will be just too much.

Flexibility And Horizontal Pivoting

If different reading styles can be supported by your newsreader it is a major benefit (in addition to feed tracking). The UI should reflect its users reading style; this is demonstrated in Reader’s headline view vs. expanded view. Due to the personalization of one person’s newsreader, a worldview dealing with their own personal interests can become a bit intense. You hear about the same topic over and over again from different voices. Any given article should be given pivot points regarding focus and intensity in order to lessen this affect whenever possible.

When it comes to newshosting, the human exclusive ability to effectively curate is what is missing from a computerized, animated news reading system. Getting your computer to think like you helps to funnel some of the information but your computer still has an issue with the capability of being able to figure out when enough is enough.