Setting a Default News Reader Application

· by · TMO Quick Tip

Apple included more than one way to keep up on what's new at your favorite Web sites thanks to its built-in RSS support in Leopard's Safari and Mail applications. Since life is all about choices, however, you might want to use a different application as your default RSS reader, and the setting to change which app you use isn't exactly intuitive to find.

To change your default RSS reader application from Safari, do this:

  • Install the RSS reader you want to use on your Mac. I use NetNewsWire, but there are plenty of others to choose from.
  • Launch Safari.
  • Choose Safari > Preferences
  • Click the RSS tab.
  • Choose the reader application you want to use from the Default RSS reader pop-up menu.

Set your default news reader app in Safari's RSS preference tab.

I follow over 100 news and blog RSS feeds every day, so I wanted an application that gave me more control over how I organize and view articles than Safari offered. Thanks to Mac OS X's preference for setting a default news reader, I can do just that -- even if the preference setting is in Safari instead of System Preferences.

Jeff Gamet

Jeff Gamet

Jeff is the Mac Observer's Managing Editor, and co-host of the Apple Context Machine podcast. He is the author of "The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X" from Peachpit Press, and writes for several design-related publications. Jeff has presented at events such as Macworld Expo, the RSA Conference, and the Mac Computer Expo. In all his spare time, he also co-hosts the We Have Communicators podcast, and makes guest appearances on several other podcasts, too. Jeff dreams in HD.

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3 Comments

davebarnes

Who cares?
RSS is dead and dying.
Twitter will finish it off.

rpaege

You mean it was once popular?

davebarnes

You mean it was once popular?

I did not say RSS was popular and I apologize if I somehow implied that RSS (whose share-of-mind is at about 5%) was ever popular.

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