Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!

Avoid a 'feeds not updating' issue in NetNewsWire Apps
The following is really obscure, and I might be the only one who was bit by this particular behavior. However, it's also a perfect example of why I launched macosxhints many years ago: it's something that I'll probably forget over time, and I wanted to have a place to documenmt it, in case I run into the problem again in the future.

I presently use NetNewsWire (NNW) as my RSS reader of choice. I'm generally happy with it, but one of the things I wish it had was the ability to add divider bars between groups of RSS feeds. I have already organized the feeds using groups, but I want the ability to visually group those groups together. All Mac-related groups in one section, then a divider bar, then general news groups in another section, etc.

Since NNW doesn't include a divider feature, I decided to make my own. I just created a new group, and named it all dashes: ----------------------. I duplicated this group, and then placed each duplicate where I wanted dividers. Not nearly as nice as a simple graphic divider bar, but it worked. Since these groups weren't RSS feeds, I checked the Don't refresh this subscription box in the group's Info window (why bother trying to update a nonsensical group?).

This worked great for a while, until I decided that I wanted to name my groups, and put my groups of RSS feeds within those larger groups. So I changed the dividers' names. Instead of ----------------------, I now have things like --- News ------ and --- Tech tips -------, etc. I then put my groups of RSS feeds into these groups, and thought all was well. And all seemed well, until I noticed a couple days later than not all my feeds were updating.

You've probably guessed by now, but it turns out that if you put a group of feeds within a folder, and that folder is marked to never be updated, then the feeds within that folder also won't get updated! This doesn't seem right to me, but it's how things are presently working. As soon as I told NNW that it was OK to refresh my top-level group folders, the RSS feeds within those folders started updating again.
    •    
  • Currently 3.00 / 5
  You rated: 3 / 5 (4 votes cast)
 
[7,613 views]  

Avoid a 'feeds not updating' issue in NetNewsWire | 4 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the 'Avoid a 'feeds not updating' issue in NetNewsWire' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Avoid a 'feeds not updating' issue in NetNewsWire
Authored by: Brajeshwar on Jan 31, '07 08:19:26AM

Hmmm, it looks like people tend to have some sorta connection. I am using a very similar method for quite sometime

------technology-------
------blogging----------
------community-------

So, we seem to be thinking on a similar wavelength.

---
Regards
Brajeshwar



[ Reply to This | # ]
Avoid a 'feeds not updating' issue in NetNewsWire
Authored by: ventifact on Jan 31, '07 09:00:15AM

This is a perfect example of the great hints and work arounds that anyone can implement to polish their workflow.
Thank You macOSXhints!



[ Reply to This | # ]
Avoid a 'feeds not updating' issue in NetNewsWire
Authored by: ShawnLevasseur on Jan 31, '07 10:29:13AM
"Since these groups weren't RSS feeds, I checked the Don't refresh this subscription box in the group's Info window (why bother trying to update a nonsensical group?)."

And here is where you were mistaken to begin with. Since a group isn't a feed, it is merely a folder that feeds are collected in, it has no URL of its own to update. The folder settings are there so that you can change the refresh settings of all the feeds in that folder all at once. You never needed to check the "Don't refresh" box in the first place because there were no feeds to refresh anyway.

You have to think of the preferences for feeds as a cascade.

You have the global settings in the applications that apply if there are no other changes.

The individual feed can be set differently in the "Info" panel. If there is no change to a given setting, it inherits any changes in the settings for the folder (group) it is in. If no setting change is made in that folder it will inherit from the folder that folder is in and so on.

If there is no change made to a given setting in this cascade, the general default applies.

The info panel could be more helpful by changing the term "this subscription" to "enclosed subscriptions" when it is referring to a group and not an individual feed.

Also note that the other settings on the info panel (persistence, sharing, etc.) also follow this cascading preference pattern.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Avoid a 'feeds not updating' issue in NetNewsWire
Authored by: osxpounder on Jan 31, '07 01:03:02PM

Good tip. I'd just like to point out that it's a convenience having the feature that lets you set a folder as non-updating. You can then move items into the folder without having to change settings for each item. I see that as conscious design and a useful feature.

I'm actually glad about that feature, because I sometimes discover a "new" RSS feed, check it for a while, then decide I don't want to check it so often, but I still want to keep it. I do this a lot. And there are seasonal feeds, like the ones that report from big conferences like NAMM or SIGGRAPH.



[ Reply to This | # ]