Ubuntu Unity WebApp Integration

A couple releases ago Ubuntu added a feature to Unity called WebApps. Most supported WebApps I've come across are available from the repositories, but it is possible to enable support from a website. FeedsAnywhere now integrates with this capability and here's how it works.

Visiting FeedsAnywhere while using either the Firefox or Chromium browser will trigger a notification and ask you whether you want to "install FeedsAnywhere ... for extra features, and quicker access?" If you aren't interested you can choose the "Don't Ask Again" option, but if you select Yes the FeedsAnywhere icon will be added to the launcher. For it to work properly the browser should also be designated as your default.

Like any other program, FeedsAnywhere can be locked to the launcher by right clicking and selecting the appropriate option. In addition to the standard options, you will also notice shortcuts to the Interesting, All, Saved, and Popular views. When a feed or view is selected that has at least one, but less than 1000 unread items, the unread count will appear in the icon. However, if you have unread counts disabled they will not appear.

Other benefits of FeedsAnywhere's WebApp integration are inclusion in Dash and task switching. This means FeedsAnywhere will show up in app searches and will have an entry when using Alt+Tab.

Any finally, there is HUD integration. The same four views (Interesting, All, Saved, and Popular) that are included as right click options for the launcher icon can also be found when searching HUD. For those unfamiliar with it, HUD is a Heads Up Display that is activated by pressing the Alt key and allows you to search through menus using the keyboard instead of manually going through them with a mouse.

If you try using FeedsAnywhere as a WebApp, but decide you don't like it, there is a way to remove it from the allowed domains by using dconf-editor. This entry can be found under com -> canonical -> unity -> webapps and you only need to cut feedsanywhere.com from the list. The next step is opening the ~/.local/share/applications folder and deleting the FeedsAnywherefeedsanywherecom.desktop file.

Navigation

j/k selects the next/previous item in the list
n/p in title view, selects the next item without opening it
space/shift+space moves to the next/previous page
shift+m open/close the main menu
shift+o open/close the options menu
enter select the highlight entry from a menu

Actions

enter,o in title view, expands or collapses the selected item
shift+a marks all items in the current page as read
d go to the item's list of similar stories
i/u designate the item as interesting/not interesting
m marks the item as read or unread
s adds or removes a star from the selected item
shift+s open/close the item's share menu
shift+u marks all items in the current page as unread
v opens the original source for the item in a new tab

Go To a New Page

g then h go to the homepage
g then i go to the Interesting items view
g then a go to the All items view
g then s go to the Saved items view
g then p go to the Popular items view
g then f go to the Select a Feed page

Application

- decrease the font size
= increase the font size
esc close any menu if open, otherwise deselect all items
? open/close a decription of keyboard shortcuts