keeping up to date with my favorite blogs

I have received quite a response to my last post about photographers on Flickr.com. So that prompted this entry about reading people’s blogs. I must admit that I am horrible at reading everyone’s blogs. I just never think about it. I realized this a few weeks ago, when I started browsing around to see all of the amazing stuff online. Then I started to pay attention to the web site I seem to be staring at the most – Gmail, my email, which is always right in front of my face.

One day, I finally stopped ignoring the header and discovered something actually useful, hiding in that light blue bar floating above my Inbox:

“Read items from any RSS or Atom feed right here. Customize Clips”

So I began going through and removing the web clips that I was not interested in seeing and cleared out the clutter making room for the blogs and RSS feeds that I really want to read. My list is by no means exhaustive. The key is making sure that I capture blogs that I run across before clicking on to something else. One thing that I do is drag the url onto my desktop and gather them in a folder labeled as blog links. Then I can go through periodically and update my clips.

My only complaint is that I am linked to the specific article, which headlines in the clips. So although I may read the blog updates as they rotate through, the articles don’t scroll on endlessly from topic to topic. My other complaint is that not all blogs have the RSS capability selected and I can’t include them in my customized clips.

Here are a list of the RSS feeds that I have highlighted. The first two are blogs that I maintain. So please be sure to add these to your clips.

Beyond Friendship Gate
MerriMail

About Today
CNN.com Recently Published/Updated
decor8
Design*Sponge
Design*Sponge Guest Blog
Dooce
Fast Company
How to of the Day
I’LL TAKE THE BUS
NPR Topics: News
NYT Most E-mailed Articles
secondary artifacts
Slate Magazine
Star Light Ministries, Inc.
Star Light, Star Bright
Talk With the Preacher
Hoogrrl
Washington Post

I know that there are many more blogs that I am forgetting or have not read yet. Please add them to my comments. I really want to beef up my list. I end up seeing a lot of the same listings over and over again.

Now for the technical stuff. Following is a description and directions from Gmail.

What are ‘Web Clips’?

Web Clips show you news headlines, Gmail tips, blogs, any RSS and Atom feed, relevant sponsored links, and more — right at the top of your inbox and messages. Receive updates from your favorite sites without having to leave Gmail!
Here’s how to customize which Web Clips are shown in your account:

Log in to your Gmail account.
Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page, and open the Web Clips tab.
Browse popular clips by selecting a topic link along the left. Search for feeds by entering topics that interest you — use this feature like you would Google Search. Or, enter specific feed URLs.
Click Add next to the clips you’d like to see in your Gmail account.
Each clip displays the source from which it was received, how long ago the clip was published, and a link to access the entire story or page containing the clip.

From your inbox, you can scroll through clips you’ve already seen by clicking the left arrow (< ) or see new clips by clicking the right arrow (>).

Note: Clips of your favorite RSS and Atom feeds are displayed randomly, and aren’t targeted to the contents of your mail.