One long standing open I haven't addressed has been getting the browser's back button to work. Because page numbers use hashes browser's would ignore a change and not go backwards. I'm please to say that this is no longer the case and moving back (or forward) will function just as you'd expect.

I uploaded a few more modifications, including some changes to Simple View. Simple View is a option through the wrench menu that is only applicable when using Title View. It is irrelevant when using Combined View.

If you use Title View and want to see just the title without the second line listing the date, Mark Read, and the feed then Simple View is for you. The difference between it and Title View is removing that line. That's not to say the the functionality is removed, it's just added to what is hidden and will appear along with the item's description when clicking to expand it.

I uploaded some new changes that should translate into a better reading experience on FeedsAnywhere. Previously the feed content wasn't formatted so it could look haphazard at best when some images were being shown. Now it will float images to the sides so text can move around them or center them as appropriate given the size of the images compared to the screen.

There were also some bugs fixes and the usual performance improvements as I can find them.

When we first started FeedsAnywhere we wanted to create a scalable interface that was consistent from phones through desktops, but as displays moved to widescreen formats it became apparent that we sometimes scaled too far. The solution is to provide each user some control to define a maximum width.

I'm been working on some design elements of the site and recently ran into a bug in jQuery UI's Resizable plug-in that I found reported elsewhere, but never with a solution. Well I'm pleased to report that I found one, and it's pretty simple.

You will need to host your own copy of jquery-ui.js for this fix to work because we'll need to make a small edit to it.

A new update was posted to FeedsAnywhere today and the most visible change is replacing the blue arrow that links to the full story at its original website. This will happen whenever an image is found within the item. If an image is not found the arrow will still be used. As with most interface changes, some will like the new look and others won't. If you find yourself in the latter case you can check your setting page and disable the thumbnails.

I haven't blogged in a while, but there has still been a lot of activity going on behind the scenes. We moved to a newer version of Ubuntu for our server, optimized some queries and indexes, migrated to InnoDB, trimmed some code bloat to improve performance, fixed some bugs, improved preloading to add more cases where it is used, changed Mark All Read so your previous timeframe will be remembered, and more.

Hopefully the benefit you will see from all of this work is a much more responsive experience and allow you to spend more time reading and less time waiting.

The final sharing feature we're putting into place right now is Instapaper. A story can be individually saved to your Instapaper account from the same Share menu that offers Email, Facebook, Google Reader, and Twitter sharing, but there is also an option on the Settings page that can post any item to Instapaper when it is starred.

Since Instapaper doesn't support OAuth you will need to provide your user name and password. The first time you post an item to Instapaper you will be prompted for your credentials so you don't need to set up the service in advance.

I mentioned in my last post that Twitter support was coming and it's ready even faster than I thought. Fortunately the same code used for Google Reader could be quickly adapted.

When you select Twitter from the item's Share menu an ellipsis will appear and it will change to a check once the post is complete. If authentication has not been done you will be prompted to authorize access to your Twitter stream.

Enjoy!

Much like the recent ability to post an article to your Shared Items list in Google Reader, you can now also post an article to your Facebook wall. You can access the function from each item's Share menu.

The first time you try to share an item on Facebook you will be asked to give FeedsAnywhere permissions to write to your account. We only request the minimum functionality and despite permissions including the ability to read your profile we are only posting and not saving any of your Facebook data.