Feed Wheel 1.2

Version 1.2 adds several new features and a brand new look and feel. Here are the highlights:

• Buttons positioned on the sides of the screen for most comfortable positioning
• New Up/Down arrow and Select button for moving around the article list
• Scroll wheel is now invisible, vertically centered toward the edge of the article list. This helps free up space to see the article preview image and title. A glowing orange circle will indicate when the scroll wheel is active.
• Reload single feed
• Reload all subscriptions
• Swipe down menu for sorting newest/oldest and showing all/unread
• Settings for enabling scroll wheel and sound
• Settings for automatically reading the selected article while scrolling
• Other bug fixes

Built for Tablets

Feed Wheel is built specifically with the tablet form factor in mind. First, I considered the physical size of the device. Second, I designed the interface and the placement of the on screen controls based on the different ways you might hold a tablet. Not just landscape and portrait mode, but also which hand you're using for primary navigation vs. which hand is choosing an action. Let's dive in!

Action Bar

Action Bar

The Action Bar is at the bottom of the screen. This just happens to be where the palms of your hands are when you're holding a tablet. These buttons are much easier to reach than if they were aligned to the top of the screen. The idea is that you can hold the tablet in the most comfortable, balanced position while still having access to most of the functionality.

Left, Right, Undecided?

Scroll wheel control can be repositioned using the hand button.

Using the hand icon in the action bar, you can swap the position of the article list and the article view. When you do this, the action bar buttons swap too. The scroll wheel is positioned along the edge of the screen in both cases, always right next to your thumb.

What is Feed Wheel?

Feed Wheel is an RSS reader with a twist, literally. Feed Wheel lets you scan through your articles using a good old fashioned scroll wheel. If that's not your thing, you can still scroll through news the way the kids do.

You can also customize your hand position so that the scroll wheel and the control buttons are easier to reach. And to make sure everything is synchronized wherever you are, Feed Wheel can optionally synchronize with Google Reader.

Details on platform and availability are coming soon. For now, check out the screenshots.