Windows

Tabbed RSS Reader for Windows

Written by Kevin

RSSOwl is a RSS feed reader which allows you to view your RSS feeds within tabs on your Windows PC.

Many have said RSS is on its way out but I strongly disagree. I use RSS feed’s everyday, rather then picking up a newspaper every morning I open my phone or tablet and check my feeds to get the latest news from my favorite sites. I believe the general public isn’t educated on what RSS feeds are and how to use them properly.

Anyway today we discuss a RSS feed reader for Windows by the name of RSSOwl. This reader allows the viewing of RSS feeds within tabs (a huge convenience). This Java based application provides simple options for importing your feeds from an XML or OPML file to ensure that you don’t have to manually insert your feeds by hand.

Not only can you import your previous feeds but you can even open webpages (from the feeds) within the tabs, this is a great feature to minimize the use of your web browser. Like most readers, it provides the ability to add, organize, update and store information in the form of feeds, as well as customize viewing options, such as, colors and fonts. RSSOwl stands out from the average feed readers by providing users the ability to open their feeds in multiple tabs, as well as browse webpages.

Importing your feeds subscriptions is extremely simple and can be done from an XML or OPML file from the menu bar (File –> Import). Just select the proper file and click ‘OK’ to add the subscriptions to RSSOwl. You have the ability to setup your feeds in common categories like Business, Computers, Entertainment, News, podcasts, etc. Each feed can be further divided into sub-categories, like the Entertainment category is sub divided into games, humor, etc.

Advanced options can be accessed via Tools -> Preferences. RSSOwl is a vibrant, portable feed reader with respectable customization options and a convenient tab-browsing feature. Let it be known that RSSOwl is a Java based application, but is not a memory hogging application, in fact it takes up around 59MB, and each extra tab adds to half an MB of memory usage. In comparison this is nearly half of the memory used by any common web browser. So no worries!

RSSOwl runs on Windows XP/Vista/7 and is free to use. Get it here!

About the author

Kevin

Kevin is the Founder and Senior Editor of Tech Heavy. When he isn't writing about the latest tech tools he spends his days working in an IT department in Dubuque, IA. @kevincray

3 Comments

  • Just out of curiosity, why do they say RSS is on the way out? I use a RSS widget daily as well on FireFox?

  • I think there’s been a fundamental shift in how information is consumed, people use twitter clients to view their news on Twitter or ‘Like’ their news sources on Facebook and get their news from their Facebook walls. With all of these new mediums RSS usage has dropped dramatically and the younger generations don’t even know what RSS is!

  • True, but not all sites have facebook pages to post information to, RSS feeds still beat social networks when you are looking for of information.