Read-er the fine print

The new Google Reader interface is driving me nutso! Yes, there are more features, like other ways to mark articles as read vs. unread.

But, really, the basic experience of a reader is simple. Aggregate content, show it to me, repeat. That's it!

Any time a design team says they've improved something by adding "more features," I guarantee you they're doing something wrong (or they work at Microsoft). I for one would choose simplicity over a host of features any day.

So, it was a great relief when I read on the Google Reader blog that you can revert to the previous interface.

Take a look at this A/B image of the old and new reader designs (click it for the bigger Flickr photo):