How to Add RSS Subscription Support to Google Chrome

google-chrome-logoIt’s understandably difficult for many people to embrace Google’s Chrome browser since it’s a little too bare-bones for most. For basic browsing or for productivity efforts in Google Docs, it’s great. I also enjoy using Chrome with FriendFeed and other JavaScript-heavy sites due to the fast V8 rendering engine. But as I’ve pointed out before, without commonly available features in Firefox like a vast catalog of extensions, Chrome isn’t likely to see huge jumps in market share until the second half of this year.

One of the gaps in Chrome can actually be worked around now, although it’s a limited approach at best. I live in my RSS reader of choice during the day which luckily for me is Google Reader. Unfortunately, when I find a new site that I want to subscribe to in Chrome, there’s no quick and easy way to do it. Auto-detection for subscription to RSS feeds isn’t yet supported like it is in every other browser I can think of.

ReadWriteWeb has a workaround that I’ve been using for a few days, and while not ideal, it does the trick. First, you’ll want to ensure that you have the Bookmarks Bar visible in Chrome. If you don’t have it visible, just tap CTRL-B on your keyboard and you’ll see it slide down into view.

Next, drag (not click) this handy little bookmarklet to your Bookmarks Bar in Chrome:

-> Subscribe

You’ll know you did this correctly when you see the ->Subscribe link in your Bookmarks Bar like this:

RSS Subscription button in Google Chrome Bookmarks Bar

RSS Subscription button in Google Chrome Bookmarks Bar

Now, any time you hit a new site in Chrome that you want to follow through RSS, just click your shiny new Subscribe button. Bear in mind that this will only work if you use Google Reader for RSS. Let’s hope Chrome gains true RSS auto-discovery and subscription support soon. In the meantime, I’m using this workaround so I can enjoy using the lightweight browser on my netbook.

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