ANN: FeedDemon 2.1 Beta 3 (Keyboard Freak Edition)

Update 13-Nov-2006: The keyboard shortcuts listed below are no longer accurate. Please refer to the FeedDemon 2.1 Quick Reference Sheet for an up-to-date list of shortcuts.

FeedDemon 2.1 Beta 3 is now available – and I think keyboard users are going to like it, because the main focus of this build was making FeedDemon better for keyboarders.

Several web-based aggregators have added single-key shortcuts this year, and I’ve got to admit that they’re pretty handy, so I decided to do something similar.  Starting with this build, the following shortcuts are enabled when the newspaper (browser) has the focus:

• Up arrow = previous item
• Down arrow = next item
• Ctrl+Up arrow = previous unread item
• Ctrl+Down arrow = next unread item
• Left arrow = previous page
• Right arrow = next page
• F = flag item
• S = send item  (email, blog, del.icio.us, etc.)
• B = add item to news bin
• R = mark item read/unread
• Enter = open item link
• T = open item link in new tab
• Ctrl+F5 = reload newspaper, adding any items retrieved since the newspaper was last shown

Since most of these shortcuts operate on a news item (article), I also had to add the notion of a selected item in the newspaper.  This way you can use the arrow keys to navigate items and see the selected one highlighted.  And this becomes even more useful when used in conjunction with the new Ctrl+D shortcut.

If you’re a heavy keyboard user, I’ll wager that Ctrl+D will quickly become your most frequently used shortcut.  Ctrl+D marks the current newspaper page read and moves to the next page. If no more pages exist in the newspaper (or if a newspaper isn’t even showing), then it moves to the next unread feed.

And just to make sure I keep my keyboard users happy, I’ve also added these shortcuts:

• Ctrl+B sets the keyboard focus to FeedDemon’s browser
• Ctrl+I shows the favorites menu
• Ctrl+E focuses the instant search box (web search)
• Shift+Ctrl+S enables changing the newspaper style
• Shift+Ctrl+F enables changing the newspaper filter

Want to give it a try?  Stop by the FeedDemon Beta Site to get it (and be sure to read the release notes before installing it).  If you run into any problems with the beta, please let us know by posting to the FeedDemon 2.1 Beta Forum.