Greasemonkey Script: Gmail and Reader Integrator
This script does not work with the new version of Gmail and due to misc. commitments, I am not able to devote effort and time to improve this script (as much as I would like to). For similar functionality and more, please take a look at LifeHacker’s Better Gmail 2 Firefox extension.
Thank you once again for the overwhelming response!
Previously, if your default start-page in “Settings” was “Home”, it was redirected to “All”. This has now been modified such that no redirection occurs, and “Home” is displayed.
Thanks to David for pointing this out. Download the updated script.
There is a programming bug, specifically a variable name error on Line 304 in the script. The variable name for the Google Reader shared items URL should be READER_BROADCAST_URL and NOT READER_SHARED_URL. Sorry for the mistake! Download the updated script, again.
I removed the Reader view when “Contacts” link is clicked as it “damages” the interface. Download the updated script. No other changes to the rest of the script logic.
The Short Story
I wrote a Greasemonkey script that integrates Gmail with Google Reader.
Features
- Spilt-window view of Gmail and Reader on a single page
- Links to collapse|expand either Gmail or Reader
- Integrated Reader uses start-page as specified in Reader’s “Settings”
- Labels selector
- Key ‘v’ to open Reader links in a new Window
- Automatic resize of Gmail and Reader views
Requirements
Installation Instructions
- Install Greasemonkey Extension
- Click on THE SCRIPT (gmailreaderintegrator.user.js)
- Click “Install”
- Open Gmail and ENJOY!
Screenshots
The Not-So-Short Story
Recently when Google reintroduced Google Reader with a new look, new features and improved usability, they marketed it as the “Inbox for the Web”. Immediately, the word “inbox” associates the Reader to emails, and Chris Wetherell – Google Reader Engineer, explained that using the Reader to obtain the latest updates of your favourite websites is similar to reading your emails. You just wait for the updates to be sent to your inbox.
Within the same day, the Reader created a huge buzz and I gave it a try. Previously, I wasn’t accustomed to the not-so-intuitive interface of the historical version and so chose to use Rojo as my RSS aggregator instead. But after exploring the new Reader, I was excited about the changes which Google introduced and have started using it as my default RSS reader.
Then, I found this Greasemonkey script by Mihai Parparita, from a post in Lifehacker, which embeds the Reader into Gmail. This makes perfect sense! They both are inboxes and ideally, they should belong on the same page. Moreover, I use Gmail frequently at work and the interface integration is an amazing productivity hack.
However, I felt that it wasn’t adequate for my use, and that my wish-functionalities were similar to comments left on Mihai’s Blog and Lifehacker. Therefore, I decided to write my own script to integrate Gmail and Google Reader; even though I have never written a Greasmonkey script before.
By examining Mihai’s code, I was able to learn and understand how a Greasemonkey script is written with Javascript. Then, I took about 1.5 weeks to complete coding my version of the Gmail and Reader Integrator, with a list of features that brought more functionalities to the integration. Importantly, I should bring to attention that I reused certain functions written by Mihai for convenience, and I acknowledged these functions clearly in my script. Thank you Mihai for the inspiration and wonderful code.
Lastly, please do report any bugs encountered or feedback any suggestions for possible improvements. I hope that you would find my Gmail and Reader Integrator script useful, as much as I do.
winston.yongwei