Dotdotdot

Dotdotdot's debut couldn't be timelier. With techies reeling from Google's announcement that Reader will bite the dust on July 1, many dedicated Web readers are looking for fresh ways to read online. Dotdotdot (free), a multi-purpose reading tool for both the browser and mobile devices, features elements of RSS readers and bookmarking tools, such as Google Reader?and Instapaper, respectively. Dotdotdot's clean interface, designed for long-form reading, lets you read not only Web articles, but also ebooks. If you consider yourself a bookworm, Dotdotdot is an app worth sampling despite a few niggles.

Getting Started
Setting up Dotdotdot is simple. You log in using either your Facebook or Twitter credentials, or create an account using a valid email address. I logged in with my Facebook account, and Dotdotdot prompted me to connect to other like-minded readers by inviting Facebook friends and following popular Dotdotdot users. The social aspect is deeper than it initially appears?I'll dive into that shortly.

After I followed a few users, Dotdotdot prompted me to install a browser plugin designed to turn Web pages into a clean, clutter-free reading experience. The bookmarklet installed and was ready for use near instantaneously.

Signing into a Google Reader account lets you tap the RSS feeds that you subscribe to using that service. Unfortunately, that's the only way to add RSS feeds to Dotdotdot at this time. I recommend sampling Feedly if RSS is of high importance to you.

Once setup was complete, Dotdotdot loaded its main page, which featured three categories: Dashboard, Library, and Memory.

Dashboard, Library, and Memory
Dashboard consists of two areas: Global timeline and Your Timeline. Global Timeline is your social feed where you'll find links to articles from both you and those you follow. Your Timeline, on the other hand, only showcases items you've added to Dotdotdot using the bookmarklet. Dashboard has a sidebar which shows the number of pages read this week and last week, a follower count, and the number of Dotdotdot users who follow you. Articles and ebooks that you read within Dotdotdot appear in your followers' Global Timeline so that they may check out the articles and stories, too. It turns the service into a book club of sorts where you can see what others are reading and partake of the material, too. Thankfully, Dotdotdot lets you lock down articles and ebooks so that they're material only you can view.

Library houses all your Dotdotdot links, which include those you've added via the bookmarklet as well as those added via Google Reader. Here you can manage articles, create reading lists, and import ebooks (only those in the open ePub format). The Library's sidebar houses The Curated List, a collection of long-form articles from around the Web gathered by Dotdotdot's staff.

Memory lets you search only the user-added article and ebook annotation, but unfortunately not a book or article title, author, or phrase within the text. The search is extremely limited in this regard?almost to the point of being useless. A user can quickly amass a large volume of reading material, so this gimped search is quite the letdown.

The Dashboard Experience
When you find a Web page with text you'd like to import into Dotdotdot, simply click the Dotdotdot bookmarklet icon. Doing so presents you with two options: You can opt to read the article with images and ads stripped away, or add the piece to your Dotdotdot library. Reading the Dotdotdot formatted pages improves the reading experience. Instead of scrolling down to read through articles, you click Dotdotdot's left/right arrows (or the arrows on your keyboard) to navigate horizontally. It recreates the print reading experience well, and is something that I wish more reading apps would adopt as I found it more conducive to reading lengthy pieces.

Public articles and books, as mentioned earlier, can be marked up with user notes. Highlighting text lets you add annotations, and if the material is public, other users can do so as well. Ebooks, too, can be marked up with comments. In fact, when an article or ebook appears in a Timeline, Dotdotdot displays the note count. I often found that reader commentary was as entertaining as the article or book in which they were found. Both Web pages and ebooks can be shared via email or Twitter.

Turning the Page
Dotdotdot makes long-form Web and ebook reading a simple affair. The lack of non-Google Reader RSS support and the inability to search text and titles may turn some away, but those who stick with Dotdotdot will find the ebook compatibility and slick reading experience worth checking out.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/GnYEAHwpvyg/0,2817,2417102,00.asp

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