DE Oracle @ UMUC

1. If you don't have a Google or Gmail account, you will need to create one. This is a free service. 

2. Once you have a Google account, you will need to navigate to the Google Reader home page. If you are not already logged into your Google account, you will be asked to log in. You will want to use your Google/Gmail account login.

3. Once you have logged into Google Reader, you will see a screen that is divided into two main parts:

• The Feed Management pane on the left allows you to add and manage RSS subscriptions.
• The Reading pane on the right has a few tips on how to use Google Reader, including a short video tutorial. 

4. To subscribe to an RSS feed, click the Add a subscription button above the Feed Management pane.

5. Enter the name of one of your favorite Web site in the input field and click the Add button.

6. The Reading pane will display a list of feeds that match your search term. Select the feed you wish to subscribe to by clicking on the appropriate Subscribe button.

Note: If you entered a site that does not support a feed, you will receive an error message in the Reading pane, as demonstrated below. Try searching for other sites until you find one that works.

7. The bottom of the Feed Management pane displays a list of feeds you have subscribed to. The number in parentheses indicates the number of unread articles in that feed.

If you want to switch from one feed to another, just click the name of the feed in the Feed Management pane and begin reading that feed in the Reading pane.

Sometimes you may not see the entire article in Google Reader. The Web site's editors may decide to just publish a short "teaser" describing the articles, just as the editors of A List Apart have done in the example below: 

8. If you want to see the entire article, simply click on the article title. Google Reader will then open the article in a new browser tab, as shown below. When you're finished reading, you can switch back to the Google Reader tab.

9. One last important note—items you have read (or scrolled past) will disappear from your feed display. This happens quickly with popular sites that receive frequent updating, like CNN.com. If you want to save an article for future reference, you can "star" it by clicking the Add star button at the bottom of the article.

All the articles that you have "starred" will be available to you at any time through the Starred items link in the Feed Management pane.