Unsolicited Advice - Yes, there is a correct way to use Google Reader [Advice]

I sincerely hope my sense of humor is becoming apparent to those who have read this blog for a little while. For instance, when I say "Yes, there is a correct way to use Google Reader," what I mean is "This will make an attention-grabbing headline when I try to coax people on Twitter to read this post." Now, I do think that the way I do Google Reader is efficient and intuitive, but it's efficient and intuitive for me. So, like all the unsolicited advice I'm giving out, take it for what it's worth.

Here's how I roll with Google Reader. I call it the "two-finger" salute. I didn't call it that until right now, but it sounds good so I'm going to keep it.

My two most important keyboard shortcuts are "N" for next item and "V" for view. I added one minor change to Firefox's "about:config" file to make life easier (I'll walk through that in a bit.*) I created a quick screencast to show you how it works. It's only 15 seconds long, so you may want to watch it a couple times to really see what's happening. I put up an "N" on the screen right before I hit "N" and a "V" before I hit "V." Going to the next item is obvious, but what happens when I hit "V" is more subtle. Watch my tab bar when I hit "V" to see the items I'm interested in reading more in-depth begin to pile up in my tab bar.

This is the way I comb through my RSS feeds because it's quick and I get all or most of the way through my feeds before I dig into the articles I really want to read. Many of the feeds I subscribe to are "headline-based." I subscribe to fantasy baseball feeds that just tell me who's hurt or who's a two-start pitcher (yes, I'm a geek). I never do anything more than skim right past them. Some of my headline-based feeds are hiding rich articles, though. Educationweek, for example, only does headlines, but the articles are worth the read.

This works really well for me. Even my wife bought in. Do you have a different way that could be benefit other readers? I know that I've got some new readers (and feed reader readers) from today's 21st Century Literacies breakout session, so I'd like to get some tips on Google Reader going. Fill up those comments!


*In Firefox, type about:config into the address bar. Click "I'll be careful" and in the filter box at the top type diverted. This will filter out everything but the option to "load diverted tabs in the background." You want this option to be true. Change it from false to true by double clicking it. What it does is change Firefox's behavior so when you hit "V" to divert Firefox's attention to the new tab you created, that tab will open in the background and you can keep working in Google Reader undisturbed.