Why do RSS readers look like email clients? “When we applied that same visual language to RSS (the unread counts, the bold text for new items, the sense of a backlog accumulating) we imported the anxiety without the cause.” [terrygodier.com]

Yesterday I wondered aloud why RSS readers look like email clients.

Brent Simmons replied. Turns out he borrowed that layout for NetNewsWire in 2002 — and twenty years later, he's asking why no one's tried something different.

That conversation became an essay.

I find stuff all the time in other apps where the UI is asserting something (no unread! can't undo! can undo!) that is clearly not true.

Not saying I'm perfect, but man do I give a strong shit about earning and keeping user trust.

Weird that RSS readers look like email clients. Inbox on the left, message on the right, unread counts everywhere.

There's no reply expected. It's a completely different relationship.

Why did we borrow the inbox metaphor for something that isn't mail?

#rss

“When experimentation becomes the primary decision-making tool, a strong product vision becomes optional.”

blog.mikeswanson.com/backseat-sof...

I’ve used a lot of systems to “keep track” of what I read and listen to, and almost none of them have helped me return to what mattered.

I keep noticing how many tools promise calm but quietly add pressure.

Still trying to understand where that line is.