If you have your own server, you can easily host your personal Google Reader like web-based feed reader app using open source applications such as rssLounge or Tiny Tiny RSS.
rssLounge
rssLounge is a free web-based feed (RSS/Atom) reader with a beautiful Ajaxed interface, that supports drag-and-drop. You can choose to install it either on your web server or even locally on your computer. The only requirement is a server that supports PHP and MySQL, the kind that are abundantly available.
rssLounge is a powerful feed reader that provides most of the features available in Google Reader, plus it lets you set feed priorities, which I think is super awesome, supports enhanced image RSS feeds, ability to control feed refresh interval, duplicate content filtering and other customizable settings. And as it is open source, any person with a decent grasp in programming can tailor the reader to one’s individual needs.
rssLounge supports OPML file format, this allows you to easily export your existing feed subscriptions from Google Reader and import them into this app.
How to install rsslounge
Installation is similar to WordPress, so if you are familiar with that you will have rsslounge up and running in 5 minutes. Just upload all files in the downloaded ZIP archive to your server. Make sure config, data/cache, data/favicons and data/thumbnails directories are writeable. Then open rssLounge in your browser and follow installation instructions on-screen.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Key | Description |
| Space | Switch and open next item |
| Shift + Space | Switch and open previous item |
| N | Select next item and don’t open it |
| P | Select previous item and don’t open it |
| J | Select next item and open it |
| K | Select previous item and open it |
| Enter | Open/close item |
| O | Open/close item |
| M | Mark item as read/unread |
| S | Star/unstar item |
| V | Open target url in new window/tab |
| Ctrl + M | Mark all items as read |
| Ctrl + S | Unstar all items |
| Ctrl + N | Add new feed |
Main Features
- Set priorities for feeds by selecting a priority range (1 to 3).
- Enhanced supports images and photos photoblogs
- Ajax based frontend for easy and simple use with drag-n-drop support.
- Plug-in system for writing new data-sources
- Supports Ajax based and cron job updates
- OPML import/export
You can test rssLounge before downloading at the below link.
rsslounge: Download | Demo
Another great free alternative available is Tiny Tiny RSS.
Tiny Tiny RSS
Tiny Tiny RSS is pretty similar to rss lounge, but offers even more features. With this app you can not only fetch data but also re-publish them again as a RSS feed. The data is also reachable via a JSON-based API. It supports multiple users, is multilingual and even has a mobile-version interface for easy access from your mobile device. You can even set it to send you daily email digest of new (and unread) headlines.
It is built with PHP, uses MySQL or PostgreSQL for storing data and makes use of the Magpie and SimplePie libraries. The interface is completely Ajaxed, with support for RSS, RDF + Atom and protected/authenticated feeds can be read as well.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Its shortcuts are similar to Google Reader. You can view the full list by pressing “Shift + ?” keys anywhere in the interface.
Main Features
- RSS, RDF, Atom feeds using Magpie library
- Inline XSPF MP3 player for podcasts
- Generation of aggregated feeds
- Authentication for reading protected feeds
- Themes
- Multiuser operation
- XML-RPC API
- Streamlined interface using XmlHttpRequest (or AJAX for laypeople)
- Supports full-text searching
- Works with two major free databases – PostgreSQL and MySQL
- Technorati-style tags
- Flexible content filtering
- Feed categories
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Article scoring
- OPML import/export
Tiny Tiny RSS: Download | Demo
One thought on “Host Personal Web-Based Feed Reader on Your Server”
Thanks! After Google Reader’s latest uglification, I thought it was time to investigate the option of a self-hosted alternative. I’d found these two already, but what I really needed was somebody to help me compare the two! And with it’s support for authenticated feeds, Tiny Tiny RSS has to be the winner, for me (so I can finally stop depending upon Free My Feed!).