Good, but not intuitive

Immediately after learning that Google Reader is shutting down, I went hunting for an app that isnt just a Reader client. Pulp is great for that. It stands completely alone and it will import your Reader feeds, but not all at once. You have to do it one at a time, reopening the import window for each feed you want to bring over. Yep its tedious, and Pulp doesnt import any tag or category structure, so Im still in the middle of recategorizing everything.

You get a choice of layouts for each feed, and can add and subtract columns for each category, so you end up with a pretty complex grid of info in front of you. I guess thats good or bad depending on how well you deal with that much info. For me it makes for a confusing experience, and really slows me down trying to make sense of all the stories on screen at once. Reordering feeds within columns is pretty spotty so far -- I cant figure out how to get the feeds I want at the top of the column.

And the home page is locked down and dynamic, you cant manually edit what shows up there as far as I can tell, so its completely useless for me. I deleted all the stock stuff that came with the app and now I have one item there that wont go away, and I cant add anything new. I dont get the point. And why cant I see just new/unread items on my home screen? Isnt that a complete no-brainer? There also, strangely, is no Next Item function when youre reading in full page mode. So you have to escape back out to the big grid and click on the next item.

Theyve apparently made a few design decisions just to be different, and Im not sure they were all that useful. Running your categories horizontally across the top is definintely counter the norm of having a left sidebar, but theres a reason why people like left sidebars-- its easier to parse a vertical list than a horizontal one, and you remember ordered positions easier that way. Also, why in the world do I need a drawer coming out of the top of my UI? Couldnt I just click a flag or something and have a smart category?

Aside from all those gripes, its okay-- theyve focused on making it easy on the eyes, headlines stand out well, and the posts end up formatted nicely. But honestly, lots of free readers do all that.

Oh, and the dock icon is low-res and fuzzy. Come on.

Worth $10? Eh, maybe. But I wish I had paid about $3.

gradientfade about Pulp