inessential by Brent Simmons

Interesting Feeds feed

When I decided to remove the Sites Drawer from future versions of NetNewsWire, I replaced it with something else: a feed that lists interesting feeds that I find.

It’s called, simply, the Interesting Feeds feed. You can subscribe.

I thought about doing other things — loading OPML files written by other people into the Sites Drawer, for instance. But every idea like this meant a bunch of work for little benefit — and a big part of the reason to delete features is to be able to spend more time working on the features that matter most.

(Aside: people who don’t write software generally underestimate how much work a given feature takes. People who write just a little software — scripters, for instance — underestimate even worse.)

So, finally, I decided to go with writing a feed. It has the advantage of being low-tech — I don’t have to build anything new. I use MarsEdit to add items to the feed (since it’s just a category on ranchero.com). And there aren’t any deadlines or pressure. I just post whenever I want to.

I’m considering making it a default for new users (for NetNewsWire/Macintosh), though I haven’t decided yet.

Suggestions for the feed are, of course, welcome. I won’t use everything I get. Probably not even half or even a quarter. And it’s not a self-promotion thing: don’t tell me about your feed, tell me about some other interesting feed.

(If you tell me about your feed, I’ll tell my cat on you, and he’ll make long red ribbons of your skin, then eat parts of you that are supposed to stay inside you. Just a warning. ;)