Today's software is always fighting for your attention, trying to suck you in. I wanted RSStoKindle.com to do the opposite. A web app designed to do its job and disappear. After setting up your feeds, you wake up every morning with a mini personalized newspaper on your Kindle with posts from your favorite bloggers and news feeds.
I was embarrassed by what happened to the design of the web app, it was becoming bloated, ugly, and confusing to use. That's to be expected from a personal project that grew to 200 users without a real plan. So I spent the last two weeks rebuilding the app from scratch. The focus was simplifying, and explaining.
Many of the pages and features weren't being used. So I deleted them. There's no longer a trending post tab, and there's no longer a feature to download e-pubs.
What's left is one feed discovery page, and I'm really proud of how simple it is. It shows the top subscribed feeds and the most recent feeds, and lets you change the category. So far tech and news seem to be the most popular.
Snooze was a hidden feature that I used to pause feeds temporarily. Sometimes you're tired of a feed but you don't want to unsubscribe. You can also control the number of posts you get so one blog doesn't take over your delivery, and you can drag and drop the feeds to control what order the articles arrive in each day.
There are some features people always ask about. Mainly, why is my feed missing images, and can I receive more articles? The truth is I'm running up against the limits of what I can offer for free without losing lots of money. So I'm working with a couple of early customers who want images and more posts, and those features will be paid. But there will always be a free plan.
So if you want to spend less time scrolling and more time reading, go check out the changes at rsstokindle.com.