Read Google Reader Feeds in a Grid Like Format

Inspite of its limitations, Google Reader is one of the more popular feed readers on the internet with a huge user base. Of course, being part of the Google family, Google reader subscriptions tend to get more mileage. Although I do have a Google Reader subscription, I often find myself neglecting the tool. Maybe that’s because it has a not so great looking interface, or maybe I’m just partial to opening another webpage to read feeds when I can do it on my already open Outlook Feed Reader. However, I happened to chance upon a pretty cool Google Chrome extension that had me reconsidering using Google Reader. The extension is called Grid Preview for Google Reader and it adds a Pinterest style grid to my Reader, making it a more attractive reading proposition. See how I configured my Google Reader to check out feeds Pinterest style.

How to Read Google Reader Feeds in Grid Style

Well, the first thing you need to do is download the Grid Preview for Google Reader extension for Chrome.

Once added, login to your Google Reader account.

You won’t see the grid effect on your home screen. You will have to go into individual feeds to do that.

Select a feed. You will notice that a drop down menu is added to the Reader toolbar. You can choose to have between 2 to 12 grids per page, or none at all. Select a view that best suits you. Three columns works well for me, but you can choose more if you like. Although you’d probably need to have a super wide screen for more columns! But the option for 12 grids is available for those who do have a more accommodating screen.

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The grid view retains all the Google Reader functionality including starring, marking as read,sharing on Google Plus and so on.

If you want to read your Google Reader feeds Pinterest style, the Grid Preview extension is something you’ll definitely love using. The only downside I noticed was that the grid view was set at a default of 5 grids and I had to manually change it every time I opened up my Google Reader subscriptions.