Setting a Default News Reader Application

May 15th, 2009 at 7:30 AM - TMO Quick Tip by Jeff Gamet

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.