I’m not much of a book reader.  I’m a feed reader.

For feed readers, a good app to read those feeds is essential. So, I just switched from Google Reader to Feverº as my reader app. It’s exactly what I needed since I subscribe to over 200 feeds (and growing), of which about 10% of those are most important to me. My All Items unread count in Google Reader was consistently saying “1000+”, so Feverº is perfect for me and I’m liking it a lot.

However, one small thing I don’t like about Feverº is how much whitespace there is in the interface. Space that could be used for the actual feed content. The left side has a gutter of about 70px, and there’s space between the groups, feeds, and content columns that could be salvaged.

Luckily, I can create a userscript to fix this, which I have done, and now I’d like to share it with anyone who might like it.

Changes include the following:

• Moved the Feverº logo into the top left corner with only a few pixels padding it off the edge.
• The reloading spinner has been moved from the right of the menu button to the right of the logo which allows for the Groups column to slide into the corner where the reloading spinner used to be.
• I’ve left the space under the menu button open for the thermometer that appears when your feeds are refreshing, which I feel fits in there quite nicely.
• If you use the fixed layout, you will notice that the thermometer label now overlaps the Groups column like in the fluid layout since there is basically no padding to support the way the label would extend to the left of the thermometer originally.
• Space between each column has been minimized.

Check out the below screenshots to see the space saved when the Feeds column is showing, and the browser window is set at the minimum width for the interface (click to enlarge):

Before:

After:

As you can see, the space for the actual feeds and their content has been improved, and it’s even better when you hide the Feeds column. If you like what you see, feel free to use it with your Feverº installation.

It can be used with any WebKit browser (Safari, Omniweb, Shiira, etc.) using GreaseKit, Chrome (native support), Firefox using Greasemonkey, Opera, Fluid.app and any other browser that supports userscripts.

Enjoy!

PS: I also added the userscript for Helvetireader to userscripts.org, a Google Reader userstyle made by Jon Hicks. If you use Google Reader and are looking for a beautifully simple theme featuring the Helvetica font, install it here.