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Frequently Asked Questions
Can you summarize Grazr.com in one sentence?
Grazr.com is a collection of online tools for assembling and sharing large numbers of feeds in the simplest manner possible.
Is Grazr.com free?
Grazr.com offers free accounts for creation and hosting of reading lists. You can find a complete breakdown of the free features on our Guided Tour page. We also have a feed widget that can be placed on your own Web pages, allowing you to share feeds with visitors to your pages. The widget is completely free for unlimited use.
What is the fastest way to try Grazr.com or the feed widget?
You can register for a free account on our Registration page. You can also create a free feed widget without even registering for an account.
What is a reading list?
A reading list is a collection of feeds and links to Web pages that can be viewed as either a simple list, or an outline with folders. Reading lists are saved in a format called OPML. One common example of a reading list is a copy of all the feeds you are subscribed to in a feed reader, like Bloglines. Grazr.com has a collection of tools that let you create and manage multiple reading lists, and share them with others.
Tell me more about your feed widget. What can I do with it?
The feed widget allows you to display either a single feed or a collection of feeds on any Web page, blog, or Ajax desktop. You can think of this as a mini feed reader for your own pages. It is a great way to share feeds with visitors to your pages. They can read the feeds right inside the widget without having to subscribe to them in a feed reader. Here is an example of some sample feeds in a widget:
What are the key features of a free account on Grazr.com?
You can watch video examples of the major features of Grazr.com on our Guided Tour page, but here is a brief summary:
- Our drag and drop editor lets you collect links to Web pages and feeds just by dragging them out of a browser window.
- You can also import an OPML file from any feed reader or other site that stores lists of feeds in this format.
- Once you have created a set of reading lists in your account, you can share all of them with others through a free blog page on the site.
- Each reading list also has its own page that behaves just like an online feed reader.
- Reading lists can be shared with others as widgets that you can send to friends in emails, or that can be posted on popular blogging sites, or Ajax desktops, like iGoogle.
What additional features do I get with a paid account?
Paid accounts will be available after the Beta test of version 3.0 is completed.
- Paid accounts add the ability to create an unlimited number of merged feeds. You can view these merged feeds on the Grazr.com site, or display them on your own pages with the feed widget.
- You can also subscribe to a merged feed in any feed reader, or give out the URL for others to use. There is no limit on the number of times a merged feed can be viewed.
- When creating a merged feed, you can also sort the items in newest first or oldest first order.
- Besides merging feeds, a paid account also lets you filter them by keyword, date, or media type. This is a great way to overcome information overload, since you can start hundreds of feeds containing thousands of items, and end up with a feed containing just the items you want to read.
- A paid account also gives you the ability to password protect a reading list on Grazr.com or a widget on any other page. This means that you could have a widget on a public Web page that can only be viewed by someone who enters the correct password.
- Other features of a paid account are printing of feeds and reading lists to PDF files or a printer, and historical storage of feed items, so they can be viewed long after the items have been removed from the current version of the feed.
What's the difference between Grazr.com and an online feed reader, like Google Reader?
Other feed readers only let you work with one collection of feeds, while your account on Grazr.com can create and manage an unlimited number of reading lists. So if you are tracking multiple projects, or preparing for multiple conferences, you can have a separate collection of feeds for each one. Also, other feed readers are basically personal products, used for reading just your feeds by yourself. Grazr.com is much more focused on sharing reading lists with others, either on the site, or through the widget on other pages. Paid accounts on Grazr.com also have private and password protected files, so you get the best of both worlds.
What do I need to use Grazr.com?
Grazr.com runs in a Web browser, so there is no download or installation required. All you need is a browser with Javascript enabled.
What do I need to use the Grazr widget?
The same thing: a Web browser that has Javascript enabled. Anyone who visits your pages will also need Javascript enabled to see the widget.
Do I have to know how to program in Javascript to use the widget?
Not at all. You can put a Grazr widget on any Web page with no programming work or knowledge. Most sites can accept a widget with just a single button click. At most you will need to copy a small amount of HTML, and paste it into the Web page to use it on your blog. We will supply you with the necessary HTML snippet.
Which browsers and operating systems are compatible with Grazr?
We have successfully tested the Grazr.com site and the widget with Firefox, Internet Explorer (both 6 and 7), and Safari. We have found these tools to work on Linux, Mac and Windows operating systems.
What types of feeds can I use with Grazr's tools?
There are several types of feeds and we try to support them all: RSS, RDF, and Atom. You really shouldn't have to worry about formats. If you find a feed that doesn't work with Grazr, please contact our support department by email at , and we'll do our best to make it work. Please include the URL of the feed in question.
What other types of media do you work with?
You can play MP3 podcasts from within the widget, and view videos in from sites like YouTube. You can also view photos from sites like Flickr.
Can I use Grazr with mobile devices?
Most mobile devices have too small a display area to use the Grazr.com site, but the Grazr widget is compatible with any mobile device that runs a modern browser with Javascript enabled. We have a custom version of the widget for the iPhone that allows a single click installation for any reading list.
Which blogging tools work with the Grazr widget?
Any blogging site that allows you to add Javascript widgets to your blog is compatible with the Grazr widget. This includes: WordPress hosted on sites other than Wordpress.com, Typepad, LiveJournal, Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, Serendipity, and Xanga. It should work in many others also.
Can I use the Grazr widget on an Ajax desktop site?
Sure, we have one click install options for Google Desktop, Netvibes, Pageflakes, and Windows Live.
Can I use Grazr with my current feed reader?
Almost all feed readers, including online tools, such as Google Reader and Bloglines, both import and export lists of feeds using OPML files. This makes Grazr a convenient tool for collecting feeds for use with a feed reader. Every reading list on Grazr.com lists the URL for getting a copy of the file's OPML. This is found on the Read page for that file. You can also import OPML from a feed reader into Grazr by using the Import a Reading List link at the top of your Grazr.com file listing page.
Do you offer any tools for developers?
The feed widget supports a complete programming language called GrazrScript. One of its most common uses is to add a custom search form that can appear within the widget. You will find a complete GrazrScript tutorial at: http://docs.grazr.com/script/tutorial.
Are there any limits in using Grazr?
You can create as many reading lists as you want, and put as many widgets on as many Web pages as you want. The only limit on the widget is that a single feed must be less than 512K in size, which is a very big feed indeed. Some paid accounts have limits on the number of feeds that can be used when you do a merge or filter, and the number of items they display in the results.
Do you have any blogs I can read to stay up-to-date with Grazr?
We have two blogs. Our CTO, Mike Kowalchik, maintains a blog at: http://blog.grazr.com/. Our CEO, Adam Green, blogs at: http://feedonomics.grazr.com. We recommend that you subscribe to both as a way of learning about new features and any changes we make to the product.
How can I get support if I have any other questions or find any bugs?
You can contact us at with any questions you have about the product. We love to hear from our users. It will help if you include the URL of any Web page where you find a problem. We also have a support forum where you can ask questions and share tips with other users at: http://forums.grazr.com.
This all sounds great. How do I get started?
You can register for a free account on our Registration page. You can also create a free feed widget without even registering for an account.
You've been very helpful. How can I thank you?
You're welcome. You can help us out by telling all your friends about Grazr.com and by placing the feed widget in a prominent location on your blog or website.