Great to hear from you so soon. I can certainly appreciate that Sage-Like does not support the difference you’ve outlined. Unless you have other advice given your personal experience – like, “I do not recommend kill-the-newsletter” – I’ll keep using Sage-Like but keep the “Brief” Firefox add-on RSS reader just for those newsletters. Thanks again for letting me know. Best regards.
Hi Barry11,
It’s nice to know you like Sage-Like,
The Check Feeds process, which refreshes the tree feeds status, does not check each feed item listed in the feed to identify if it was ever read or not. Instead, for better performance, it just checks the feed update timestamp (when the feed was last modified).
The bold status of a feed depends upon the feed update timestamp in comparison to when it was last visited* (clicked).
Therefore, the situation you describe can result from the following:
- The remote feed was updated and its timestamp has changed** but its content was unchanged.
- The feed’s Read\Unread state was accidentally toggled via the menu item or the menu’s hotkey “G”.
In the preferences page the setting Show total number of unread feeds and feed-items includes the number of unread items next to each feed in the tree. This offers a better indication about the feed content.
I hope this helps.
* The menu items incorrectly use the terms ‘Read/Unread’ instead of ‘Visited/Unvisited’.
** The update timestamp can be seen in the feed’s tooltip.
Hi Ariel,
I’m very pleased to see something that simple back. And I clearly have to speak my mind that this API change of Mozilla is big bullshit cutting of legs and arms pretending to be some small scratches. Long live the black knight…
That said, I’m still using very old versions of firefox because there is no replacement which satisfied my … minor needs.
Thus I would like to use the opportunity to ask for some features which have been present in good old sage2 in my order of importance.
- Have active links in the preview if they are present in the source so that a simple click can activate them or copy them to clipboard
Links active with sage2
Vs. no links in sage-like
2a) Load the preview picture as well
Preview shows image with sage2
No image in preview sage-like
2b) Allow custom css to style the (what you call preview) page
- I know there is a feed preview using the middle mouse button, something I could maybe live with. But having back this page by a normal left click on the feed itself would be great.
If you need more information about any of it or I can be of other help to implement it let me know please. Never developed a plugin for firefox, neither with the old API nor with webextensions.
Cheers
Schrotty
The old Sage had two columns of feed items displayed. I suggest that you add an option to adjust the number (1-4) of columns of feed items displayed.
Thank you for the plugin. I hope there is an Android version.
Hi schrotty,
I read your post very carefully 3 month ago and I have just noticed that I had not responded to it so please forgive my unintentional oversight.
All your comments were taken into consideration and I hope the next version will be to your liking.
Hi Xorgeo,
If I understand your request correctly, the upcoming Sage-Like version will allow the use of custom CSS to style the feed-preview page and this will allow you to re-style the page in the manner you mentioned.
1 Like
Hello Ariel,
thank you for reviving Sage. I used Higmmers for ages and was very happy with it and very sad seeing it gone.
A couple of observations (no critique):
-
In Higmmers I had a Folder ‘RSS’ in my Bookmarks folder, but if I set ‘Sage-Like’ to that folder, most feed don’t get recognized as RSS feeds with the warning “Failed to get feed data. [ Feed format is neither XML nor JSON. ]”.
-
Is it possible to customize the entries that get downloaded? I have feeds where only like 10 entries get downloaded while my (not-so-great) interims feed reader ‘Feedbro’ downloads 50 and more…
-
Sometimes images don’t get loaded, but I’m not sure if this is a real problem because the feed WITH images is http://feeds2.feedburner.com/mydealz, that doesn’t work in sage-like and https://www.mydealz.de/rss/
-
There are special characters that don’t get resolved: Sample: long dash: http://hnapp.com/rss?q=score>100
-
Is there a database with css files by any chance?
Thanks again and happy holidays and merry christmas.
Hey Dawiesel,
Thank you for using Sage-Like.
As for you notes:
-
I may have a vague notion about the cause for those warnings. If you could post here the links to the RSS feeds that were not recognized, I’ll look into it.
-
This is strange. I’ve seen the exact opposite since some readers provide the option to restrict the number of displayed entries and Sage-Like does not. Could you post here some examples for those cases?
-
I’ve tested both feeds in Sage-Like v2.1 and both worked and displayed 20 entries each. It may have something to do with the fact that the failing feed is ‘http://’ and not ‘https://’ and that your network configuration restricts unsafe web requests (‘http://’). Try changing the link to ‘https://’. I’ve encountered similar issues.
Now when I think about it, this might be the issue with the feeds in the first bullet and this solution may apply. Changing ‘http://’ to ‘https://’. Let me know if this is the case and if it worked.
As for the images, the structure of the RSS feed delivered by this site is somewhat unique. For this reason, the image and description of the entries are not displayed properly. This will be fixed in the hopefully soon to come next version.
-
The long dash. You’re right. Thanks,
. -
I’m sorry but I haven’t created a collection of CSS files. But maybe I should post here a few CSS files that will serve as samples and/or templates.
And sorry for my delayed response .
No need to be sorry at all. Thanks for your response.
About your feedback (I keep it short, hope you don’t mind):
- All links are not RSS specific but just the regular page links:
hxxp://www.ohgizmo.com/
hxxps://boingboing.net/
hxxps://www.androidpolice.com/
hxxp://hnapp.com/?q=score%3E50
hxxps://www.blog.google/products/gmail/ - Cases where the download count differs
- The other solution downloads up to 50 or 100 items, where sage-like only downloads 10-30:
hxxp://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml
hxxp://feeds.feedburner.com/TheWirecutter
hxxp://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/amDG - Sage-like downloads ALL (up to 200) and the other solution only 50
hxxps://cdn.kuechenstud.io/feeds/ldn-mp3.xml
hxxp://feeds.megaphone.fm/intercepted
-
mydealz not working with https either (but except the title all the content is missing in my case)
Switching to https did not solve any problem in my case unfortunately. -
About css: a few decent examples to start with would be great!
Thanks again.
A few basic custom CSS files for the Feed Preview page that can be used as‑is or serve as examples.
sl-customFeedPreview-CSS-files.zip (5.0 KB)
Hello. I want to start by thanking you for making this extension. It’s probably my favorite RSS reader.
On the topic of feedback, I noticed that the original sage extension (or at least the legacy one that’s provided by Pale Moon) allows for two different types of sorting, “chronological” and “source”.
Chronological sorts the items by their timestamp, while source sorts the items by how they appear on the source page. Would it be possible to get this functionality in Sage-Like?
It appears that it is by default sorted chronologically. I noticed that the RSS feed for Nitter pages will sometimes sort retweets below normal tweets, even if the retweet was sooner than the normal tweet. Here’s an example:
RSS preview with Sage-Like:
RSS preview with Sage in Pale Moon (using “source” sorting):
I would really appreciate “source” sorting being implemented in Sage-Like. Thanks in advance.
Please, oh please, please, please … I am begging … you would make my very sad life that much easier if you could …
Allow open articles in a new tab option as a permanently toggle global option.
Seriously, I am so very appreciative that you have re-created Sage all but perfectly and are putting in the effort to maintain it. Cannot be undervalued as sidebar RSS bookmark reading should be a fundamental browser-native feature. Or at least a Mozilla-developer, default-installed addon that can be removed if users wish.
However I do not use Sage-Like as it seems many do. I do not use the feed preview pages. I just browse the article links in the bottom pane, hovering them for the description if there is one, and open them individually if I wish. The only sensible way for me to do this is new tabs. Otherwise I just lose where I am … oh wait, what happened to that site I had loaded (it has disappeared into the Back button history … if I can remember which ruddy tab it was in that has since been over-written.
The right-click, scroll, open in tab context option is simply RSI-inducing (literally), unnecessarily repetitive overhead for me.
If you open sourced the code I could do this work for you and most users would be none the wiser.
I seem to remember somewhere, you thankfully replied to this topic - possibly in the AMO review section - and left me with the impression it is a feature option you did not want to implement for some reason. Is that the case? I would appreciate your honesty so that, if not, I can look around and try to find another RSS option, hopefully. Without this Sage-Like is exactly everything I want it to be.
I do not mind the not remembering viewed/reloaded status (bold/normal) between browser sessions. Never have. That seems like a developer ball ache similar to publishers automatically creating ‘new’ feeds that actually have no new content. A glitch in the overall RSS ‘ecosystem’. Too much effort for developers like you to support and AFAIK never done any better in the previous Sage … or any other app for that matter.
Perhaps browser.tabs.create()?
Hello lmaothisisgold,
“Source” sorting will be there in the next version.
1 Like
Hello inspector71,
I think this is not the first time this option is requested, and just for that reason I’ll try to add it in the next version.
But I’m curious, are you not aware that you can open articles in a new tab using the mouse’s middle-click? And if you are, do you find it uncomfortable or unusable?
And there are also the keyboard keys: Ctrl-click to open in a new tab and shift-click to open in a new window.
Personally, I like to have the option to choose whether to go ‘current tab’ or ‘new tab’ at my fingertips. 
I’ll do my best to add it to the next version and I’ll need to figure out how exactly to implement this without conflicting with the current mouse functionality (left-button: current tab, middle-button: new tab).
New tab, new tab, new tab!!!
YEEEHA!!!
Thank you, thanks, danke, gracias !!
I love you !
My mice do not have a middle click button, only a wheel button and yeah, that’s not intuitive or comfortable to use. The only time I do use it is on the very rare occasion I see any value in slowly auto-scrolling a web page. Otherwise it is not a button, it is a wheel.
There is simply nothing like the default action doing what I expect it to.
Keyboard shortcuts may be handy for some people but for me are useless in the Firefox Sidebar context because the sidebar is in a different focus context. I never use the keyboard in Sage-Like. I never use keyboard plus mouse shortcuts at all actually. Anywhere in any app. Unsure why other than maybe it is just harder to co-ordinate and less efficient.
Recently I changed the default Firefox context menu (outside Sage-Like) to always - or often - show Inspect Element (Q) at the top as this is the primary, almost only, context menu option I use. Reload? F5 or nav bar button. Cache-bypass reload? Ctrl + F5; Fwd / back? Backspace is the most efficient (which Firefox is annoying preferencing off) or just navigation bar buttons. Etc etc.
Yet, after over a decade of right-clicking on thousands of element, moving the mouse all the way to the bottom and clicking, having made this change, guess what? I am struggling to get out of the habit! More tellingly perhaps, I know I can right-click then hit Q to get there faster. But it is just not that simple to change behaviour!
Speaking of which, Sage opened articles in new tabs for so long, I became familiar with it. Or Sage at inconsistently allowed the overall browser setting to permeate through to itself, that I ‘learned’ that behaviour as well So when Sage-Like finally came along thanks to your excellent efforts, to replace Sage in the WE era, it was enormously welcome … except … this, one, little - but massive - thing! Hahaha.
Now, all is right with this bizarre world again. The change to Quantum and WE all but finally complete thanks to your update!
I guess if I was a pianist, using three mouse buttons might be more natural.
Glad you were able to keep the option for new or existing tab override with middle and keyboard override if that is what you like.
For me, everything is opened in a new tab. That way I never feel like there is a long train of history hiding where I was and confusing my mental mind’s eye about where some site, that I still visually remember, has gone. Searches; omnibox activity; bookmarks; link sent to Firefox for opening … it is all opening a new tab. If I close a tab and need it again, that is what Undo Close Tab is for
Thanks so very much for this effort. I know it may not make a lot of sense to you as we all tend to default to only really ‘believing’ our way is the norm. That is just an instinctive thing. I am the same even though I know people use software in a variety of ways that are different to mine. But this change makes Sage-Like the perfect replacement / successor to Sage, for me.
Also, have been using the address-bar feed addition button more lately. Think it was hidden by my custom CSS until now. Very helpful.
Last but not least, have been cleaning up my bookmarks and that meant yet another naming scheme including renaming the Sage-Like feeds folder. No idea how … but unlike in the past with original Sage, the renaming did not cause any issue! Sage-Like just automatically picked up the new folder!!!
Brilliant
That makes Sage-Like actually superior to Sage, for me.
1 Like
Been using it for months, it’s been good but I wonder if you can add function to play audio files directly in feed preview page? I think this can be useful for listening podcasts 
the original Sage add-on doesn’t have this and this function was the one I hoped could be added into…
Thanks for making this continuation of the great ‘Sage’ add-on!
Hello yuichisuzuki0404
I like your feature request.
Enabling the user to play feed media attachments (RSS enclosures) directly from the feed preview page is a great addition (audio and video).
I’m not much into podcasts listening myself, but I’ve looked around and I found a variety of different podcast RSS feeds “in the wild” that presented a few programming dilemmas. Therefor I would appreciate your help if you can post here some links to what you consider as typical podcast RSS feeds as a reference?
It will be very helpful.
Hopefully, this will be in the next version.
ah yes, thanks for replying!
well, the kind of feeds I consider as typical podcast RSS are like these:
(from Radio Free Asia)
[https://podrepo.rfa.org/E-Eyes/E-Eyes.rss]
(from CNN, Breaking News Alert)
[https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/cnn-breaking-news-alert]
feed address:
[https://www.omnycontent.com/d/playlist/d83f52e4-2455-47f4-982e-ab790120b954/183b7d82-f502-4965-a01a-ac6b00f3be8a/2bbde490-903e-4e0d-b13e-ac6b00f4a6c5/podcast.rss]
hope these could help the development
Hello Walter,
If I understand you correctly you are talking about an issue with image loading/display.
So, I checked the XML feeds that are provided by the dealinspektor site.
There are 2 discoverable RSS feeds in the main page. At the time of checking both feeds were just empty. The feeds had a title, an image, and no items at all.
When going into the site’s inner pages like ‘Hot-Deals’ or ‘Beauty’ an additional feed is provided that do have content (feed-items), but they were very basic and none of them included any image.
If you are referring to a different issue or if I misunderstood your intention, please let me know.
Hey, Ariel!
Sage-like is awesome, Sage (and some derivatives) was my choice of feed readers so far. I really missed it in FF Quantum.
I’ have just one problem with it: it can not open one of my old feeds with embedded credentials in the feed url. I assume this is because of the new security handling of mozilla. Is there any workaround to overcome with this issue?
Oh, and just one more thing, mainly about esthetic and convenience (or bad habit - it would be nice to have button(s) in toolbar with ‘mark-all-as-read/unread’ functionality.
Thanks.