NetNewsWire has had a long history on the Mac. It practically invented the News Reader category when in debuted exclusively for Mac OS X back in 2002. Since then NetNewsWire has seen multiple revisions with many new and exciting features including the ability to create custom feed views, custom downloading and opening of podcasts, synchronization of feeds and feed status between computers, Bloglines support, and a built-in tabbed browser. As more features have been added to NetNewsWire’s arsenal I have become less enchanted with its progress, and at the end of last year decided to try out some alternative RSS Readers. My experimentation with Reeder for Mac and Mail’s RSS functionality came to an end earlier this month as soon as I learned about a new version of NetNewsWire that was light on features, but fast and reliable.

NewNewsWire 4.0 Lite is everything a RSS reader should be. It is fast and nimble thanks to its rebooted codebase, and 64-bit extension isolation. It has a redesigned user interface that appeals to modern ascetics while still showing its Mac OS roots. It features basic functionality, such as the ability to make folders, support for importing and exporting your feeds, and sharing integration with Instpaper, MarsEdit, VoodooPad, and Twitter. Unfortunately some people will miss the syncing, searching, starred items, AppleScript support, and extensive subscription management features missing from this release. For those folks a full, for-pay version of NetNewsWire 4.0 for Macintosh is coming, but in the mean time it is possible to get NetNewsWire 4.0 Lite to sync its feeds and feed statuses between computers using Dropbox.

1. I start by quitting NetNewsWire Lite and creating a new pseudo Library folder in my Dropbox to hold Application Support files I wish to transfer from my Home Library.
2. Inside my new Dropbox Library I create a new Application Support folder.
3. I then copy my existing NetNewsWire Lite Application Support Directory from ~/Library/Application Support/NetNewsWire Lite to ~/Dropbox/Library/Application Support/NetNewsWire Lite.
4. Creating a symbolic link between my new Dropbox enabled NetNewsWire Lite Application Support folder and its original location ensures that changes I make to my reading habits, including the status of read items gets synced to the cloud. ln -s/Dropbox/Library/Application\ Support/NetNewsWire\ Lite /Library/Application\ Support/NetNewsWire\ Lite`
5. By repeating step 4 of this process for all of my Dropbox enabled Macs I can share the same reading habits between all of my computers.

My Dropbox syncing technique for NetNewsWire Lite isn’t perfect. In order to avoid conflicts with the Articles, and localFeeds.plist it is best to quit NetNewsWire Lite before starting it on another computer. Unlike Google Reader synchronization this technique is powerless at keeping your mobile devices in sync, but it does create a nice backup of your LocalFeeds to the cloud while preserving NetNewsWire Lite’s awesome speed.

Interested in trying Dropbox for yourself Use this link to get signed up and enjoy the dream of being in sync across all of your computers.