Today, i got a mail from Apple with the title ‘Ready for Sale’.
Yes, RssBook has released in Apple App Store.
There are two versions available. FREE version and PAID version. The free version contains iAd, but exactly the same functionality as the paid version.
In this Release, version number is 1.1.3. There has been some minor bug fixes and stablility improvements.
Now, i’m struggling to add support for iPad. This Job will be end in two weeks later. You can expect more~.
(This is based on version 1.0.0. Detailed information can be changed in later release.)
It depend on device and feed type.
In case of iphone 4 device, up to 100,000 articles, comportable use. If exceed over 200,000, occasional down can be occur while syncing due to low memory.(but it can be improved in future release).
The important factor is memory capacity. 4S device will be same as iPhone4, 3GS device will be less than a half of iPhone4.
Storing many article cause some delay in loading at startup time. But after finish loading, article browsing will be fast enough.
In fact, you might not know before using RssBook. Google reader only show max 1000 recent unread count per feed.
It can varies by device and feed content.
In my experience of iphone 4 device, approximately 10,000~15,000 new articles per a hour(based on 1.0 version). So it will take about 10 hours for 100,000 articles for first sync, and takes about 6 minutes for daily sync of 1000 new articles.
RssBook is synced feed by feed. So the number of feeds and sync setting are important. First, organize your feed subscription in google reader. Second, take time on sync setting per feed in RssBook. Third, sync more often.
It varies case by case but we recommend about 20~50 and not exceed 100. Do not subscribe unnecessary feed.
Categorize feed. For example,
- personal blog: long retention
- professional blog worth reading old or archieving: long retention
- news feed with short description: short retention
- gossip blog not worth archieving: very short retention.
Long/short retention count may changes by device. In iPhone4 device, short is 1000~2000, long is 5000~10000. For iPhone3, short 1000, long 2000~3000.
Reduce ‘Sync past articles’ setting value will be helpful to daily sync. This setting is intended for syncing article that modified outside RssBook. But after google reader deprecate ‘social feature’, ‘syncing past article’ become not so important.
More often you sync, shorter time it takes. We recommend several synces once a day. Enabling auto sync is strongly recommended.
Default network setting of Auto sync is Wi-Fi connected. After finish first sync, you’d better change it to 3G/Wi-Fi(any network).
Once first sync end, even if you increase article retention, it does not increase article syncing count. It only affect purging count.(purging will occur after articles reach that count.)
If you want to get more article after first sync end, go to sync setting per feed, set ‘Use Account Setting’ to no, adjust article retention count as you want, and finally change ‘Resync all article’ option at bottom. This option is only available at sync setting per feed, not account sync setting.(There’s a shortcut to feed sync setting at feed folder’s more action when title tapped).
If you subscribe a feed, first sync for that feed will occur at next sync.
If you unsubscribe a feed, purging all article of that feed will take place.
RssBook indexes a article elaborately for grouping and filtering, which require a lot of database space. So purging a article is never a trivial job, it take a half of the time that need for syncing.
We recommend that subscribing, unsubscribing and organizing several feeds all at once. After modifing feeds subscription, let it sync all night long.
Thumbnail is always searched and generated as long as article has at least one valid image. Thumbnailing need some internal works and occupies the majority of image syncing time.Images are for two indention. One is for fast and offline loading from local disk. The other is image gallery of that blog. Image viewer functionality is located in title tap menu.But note that ad images are not saved and always shown from ad server for blog owner’s rights.
More articles, more space. On average, 100,000 articles require about 1GB disk space. But it can change dramatically depending on article content and image saving option.
You can check space usage at account info in setting menu. Watching the value occasionally, you can estimate proper space requirement for your subscription.
(This guide will be shown when app run for the first time.)
Sync button is at the top right corner in navigation bar. It is toggle button. While syncing, tapping the sync button will stop sync.
Auto sync has some good features like ‘minimum battery level to start’, ‘stopping battery level’, ‘starting network connection type’. So, enabling auto sync will greatly ease your syncing. Auto sync is enabled at default.
Syncing by tapping sync button is different. It is ‘Normal Sync’ and not affected by auto sync battery/network settings.
RssBook is saving a lot of the articles in local mobile device. This happen in first time sync. If you have a large set of feeds, syncing will take a considerable time, traffic, disk space and battery.
So, if you think, now is not the best time for the (time consuming) first sync, then stop sync. Or sync for a couple of minutes, look around RssBook’s features, then stop and restart sync late at night(maybe better to leave it sync alone until morning).
Once the first sync completes, next sync will not take so much time and traffic. It just check new and recent articles only.
Pressing home button while syncing has no problem. When come back, it resume next. And stopping sync can takes a couple of seconds due to background jobs.
Setting button is at top right corner next to sync button(in iPhone, at the bottom right corner in toolbar).
For convenience, when RssBook receives first valid subscription list, it will promp sync setting detail. You can change sync setting for account and, if necessary, change sync setting per feed. Default settings may be acceptable for most case. After closing setting menu, sync will resume.
Now, It’s time for first sync. After closing this dialog, if remained battery is greater than 70% and connected Wi-Fi(default setting), auto sync will start.
*You can read this guide at the help menu of setting in RssBook app.
(This UI Guide is based on version 1.0.0 in iPhone.)
1) Sync button : Start sync manually or stop sync while syncing.
2) Sync status bar : Last sync date info. While syncing, display current process in detail. When just finished sync, show last sync result.
3) Edit button : Change the order of folder list or remove user added folder. Adding folder to home can be done by folder action menu.
1) Title tapping : Folder action menu.
2) Grouping button : Available grouping options are by feed, label, google attribute(starred..), tag, author, and date. some options(tag) are recursive.
3) Filter button : Filter out current folders article by read/unread, facebook like count, google reader like count…
4) Button for article menu activation : When tapped, article selection menu is activated. when menu is on, tapping article will pop up article action menu. ‘Mark all as read older than this article’ menu will appear only in this popup.
5) Swipe right : Same effect as back button(going to parent folder).
1) Content double tapping : Double tapping in content area will toggle visibility of scroll bar, navigation bar and toolbar.
2) Swiping Left/Right : Go to next/previous article. Same effect as next/previous button in navigation bar.
3) Scroll bar : For faster content scrolling than swiping up/down.
4) Social bar : You can enable/disable this social bar in social setting menu.
5) Toolbar : Article action and social share feartures. Like and Share service is deprecated by google reader. But google do not block the functionality as of now, You can enable this button in social setting menu.
1) Toggle controls : Toggle visibility of scroll bar, navigation bar and toolbar. Same effect as content double tapping.
2) Long press menu : When long pressing content words, additional menu appear. You can add two more custom menu in display setting.
3) Additional article links : various article links.
RssBook 