14 DAY TRIAL // Knowledge is always sustained by a continuous flux of information, as I use to say. We thrive in all domains of development by being up to date with the latest news and we try to remain that way, as it is beneficial especially for our business, but not only. As a never-ending lust for information exists in each and every one of us, only the time factor separates us from being among the first to use the information wisely.
As there is no time to browse on the Internet for all reliable news providers, applications like RSS Reader tend to make our work a little bit easier. Of course they won't read them loud for you, but at least you will have your sources gathered in one program and you can choose to have displayed only the information you are interested in. Lots of such programs exist on the market, and most of them come with a freeware license. Having a wide variety is not only beneficial, because they have extra features and different ways of displaying in their interface, besides the fact they do the basic: gathering info from different websites which support RSS feeds.
RSS Ticker comes as shareware and is a very easy-to-use program. Briefly talking about its limitations, all there is to be mentioned is a nag screen and the fact that only two library items can be active at the same time. First thing you are going to see after installing the program is a transparent area on top of your desktop with news title scrolling from right to left. Well, that's all it is actually, with no complicated interfaces, windows minimized in system tray or Aero buttons. "Keep it simple and efficient" seems to be the defining phrase for this software.
Setting its option for you to receive only the interesting information is all the necessary input required. If there is a lack of inspiration (or have no idea of what a RSS Reader does or how it works) there is nothing to worry about as this program is "novice users friendly" also. It comes with a wide list of feeds already loaded from sites, but if you are not happy with them, there is nothing stopping your search on the Internet for additional RSS-providing sites. Add them to your library as it is an easy task and all it takes is to drag'n'drop the website's URL from the browser into your library.
In case you delete the XMLs from the library and have no clue how and where to get them back from, the program's restore button can get you out of trouble. With a simple click all your feeds are back, thanks to the fact that erasing a feed from the screen does not delete it physically from the hard drive. Editing the feed's content is not a good idea as it will cause the program to malfunction, so try to behave and not make any changes if you got no clue about XML tags, RSS Root or RSS Channel data.
As customization, well, having no interface the software doesn't leave you with too many options. The scroller's background color can be changed for one already defined or can be user-defined using RGB color space. If for the RSS Channel its image and date can be showed, RSS Item has "Show Title" and "Show Date" options to be ticked. Both have their font, its style and size adjustable as well as the color. More about appearance, the background's transparency can be set from the visible to invisible mode (in percentages).
The scroller is able run always on top of the other applications and the direction of the feeds is changeable. The "window" can sit quietly on top or bottom of your desktop, or if Float mode is selected, it can be moved anywhere around your screen and its size is correctable. When you have two feeds (maximum in this edition), swapping to the next page or moving to the next feed is very easy. Right click on the program and choose one of the options. Updating the feeds is done automatically, and the time between update is user-defined, but nothing stops you from refreshing if necessary.
If you consider yourself a heavy feed user and have any knowledge about editing such files, the application enables you to edit them individually. Actually, all you can do is modify the RSSLocation and RSSUpdateURL, change IsCDATANode from True to False or define the version and value of the feed. In most cases, a good thing is to leave them as they were, as I've done a complete mess trying to adjust them.
Regarding velocity, the news can accelerate too fast for you to understand or move along too slow, but this can be changed to suit your needs better. The Ticker speed is adjustable in percentages from the slowest to the fastest. In case you are using a proxy server for your Internet connection, you have to mark the checkbox and type in the address you are using, as well as the port. All log information for this application can be found in the System Event Viewer and can be consulted launching Event Viewer.
The Good
RSS Ticker is an easy-to-use shareware which displays the news comfortably in a small scroller situated anywhere on your screen. You can change the feed and the display direction quickly, using the application's menu. The speed is adjustable and the feed update rate is user-defined. As customization, you are able to set the program's background color, transparency and the font, its style and size for RSS Channel and RSS Item. The library gives you plenty of feeds to choose from and you can add your own. Drag'n'Drop URL files is done with ease, and import/export features are present.
The Bad
The application does not have any methods of restoring (backup) the damaged feeds, in case you make any changes using RSS Editor. Help Menu is completely unavailable and no hints are present anywhere around. You can't move backward through the feeds and the best alternative is to change their order in the list. Batch erase option is not provided and it has to be done manually, one feed at a time.
The Truth
As a RSS Reader is a software that every computer user should have, RSS Ticker could be considered an alternative. It doesn't have any complicated features and it is indeed very handy and easygoing. Its nag screen is extremely annoying as it appears every time you try to modify the settings. The limitation (just two feeds in the list) is quite irritating as I strongly believe this type of program should come at no costs.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
