10 Ways to Spice up Your Google Reader

As a tech blogger, I need to catch the latest tech news and updates daily. Thanks to Google Reader, it saves me a lot of time as I don’t need to check each site individually. The Chrome Webstore has some really nice extensions to extend the ability of Google Reader such as converting partial feeds to full feeds, adding custom themes etc.

#1. Google Reader Minimalist

This browser extension increases readability of Google Reader, you can remove up to 50 unnecessary interface elements like Google bar, logo, search, footer etc and set custom item width, custom CSS and even keyboard shortcuts, thus makes Google Reader less distracting. It comes from the home of Minimalist extensions.

Link: Download Google Reader Minimalist

#2. Reader Plus

The previously mentioned extension is an all-in-one tool for Google Reader. It comes with 30+ themes which change the way you use Google Reader, if you aren’t satisfied with those skins, you can also apply iGoogle themes. You can add custom favicons, fix the unread count, remove advertisements and much more. You can also add new sharing options (which are not present in Google Reader’s sendto menu) like Addthis, Read it later and more.

Link: Download Reader Plus

#3. Super Google reader | Full text RSS feed builder

It’s a common practice among popular news aggregators and blogs to offer partial feeds instead of full feeds, with partial feeds, the reader is given a short excerpt of the post and then he needs to read the rest of the post on the respective blog/site. This will be quite irritating and time consuming, hopefully we have two solutions here. They are –

Use Full text RSS feed builder to convert partial feeds to full feeds, you just need to enter the URL of the partial feed you want to convert to full feed and then the app will give you the URL of the full feed within seconds to which you need to subscribe.
The above method will be time consuming if you have a lot of partial feeds in your Google Reader, here’s an easy workout, download Super Google Reader extension, you can access full feed of any partial feed you’re viewing by clicking the Readable tab, If you want to read the article from the site itself, then click the Link tab.

#4. Google Reader Play Bookmarklet

Google Reader Play has a highly visually appealing interface, especially when you’re reading a media-rich article, switching to Google Reader play is the best option. With this Bookmarklet you can enjoy the current article on Google Reader play with a single click.

Link: Google Reader Play Bookmarklet

#5. BufferApp

I mentioned this extension in my previous article, it eases sharing articles from Google Reader on Twitter. Do check the previous article for detailed review.

Link: Download BufferApp

#6. Google Reader Notifier (by Google)

Don’t want to miss any of your Google Reader articles? Then enter Google Reader notifier, it will display the unread count and clicking the extension will preview the latest unread articles. Simple and effective.

PS: Clicking the links in the Reader preview will take you to the original link of article not the link associated with Google Reader (feed link).

Link: Download Google Reader Notifier

#7. Post Rank

I must say this is the best extension I have ever found to spice up my Google Reader, having 1000+ articles in my reader it’s very hard for me to skim through every post, now Post Rank comes to the rescue. It gives grades (good, great and best) to all the posts so I can segregate the best from the worst! 😀 It analyzes the engagement activity (tweets, facebook shares, diggs etc) and rates them accordingly.

Link: Download Post Rank Extension

#8. Google Reader Subscribe Bookmarklet

Just click this bookmarklet on the site whose feed you want to subscribe and you are done! You can get it from the Google Reader’s settings page.

Link: Subscribe Bookmarklet

#9. Page2RSS

Want to track changes of a webpage even though it doesn’t provide its feed? Page2RSS is perfect for you! You can subscribe using Google Reader, Bloglines, Yahoo!, Netvibes and even through Email! Just click the extension on the page whose changes you want to track and select your reader.

Link: Download Page2RSS

#10. Why don’t you suggest one?

I want you to suggest the 10th one! Also, try these extensions and bookmarklets, we’re eager to hear from you!