Today, we’re proud to present an improved version of the WordPress.com Reader. We’ve made the Reader faster, with shorter load times and smoother scrolling. We’ve also improved the way we display posts, so you can now see the highlights of each story at a glance.
The new interface works just as well on a mobile device as it does on your computer, so it’s simpler and faster for you to catch up on blogs while on the go.
Keeping track of recent posts from the blogs and sites you follow is now both easier and more fun. Our new cards — which preview each post’s content — highlight great photography and make it easy to scan for something that looks interesting. New typography has improved readability, while the new Full Post View pushes the interface to the background, allowing you to focus on the story, whether it’s composed of text, pictures, or video (or any combination of these).
All these improvements work for nearly any site on the web, not just those hosted on WordPress.com: if it has an RSS feed, you can follow it. If the site happens to be a WordPress.com site, though, just look for the Follow button at the bottom of the page — click it, and you’re done.
We hope you enjoy the improved Reader!
Please note: these changes currently affect the web Reader only; we’re working on bringing these improvements to our iOS and Android apps soon.
WordPress.com News 
I loved the new reader!!!
Thank you, Word Press, for coninually improving the writing experience and making the browsing quicker and easier. I’m here for the long haul.
Would you be able to give bloggers who use summary feeds the option of perhaps a thumbnail of their post photo in the reader?
Could you give us some information about how many words from a post are used in a summary feed. It seems to be tied to what the theme allows, which makes my summary feed in the WordPress Reader extremely short.
Could you talk about summary feeds vs full feeds and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
As it stands now, the bloggers who use summary feeds don’t have much ‘pull’ when it comes to attracting someone to click through to their blog in the WordPress Reader.
Good news, we’ve added back featured images on summary cards. We give preference to the featured image and will pull an image from the content if necessary.
As for “summary feeds vs full feeds”, as users (and developers) of the Reader, we much prefer full text feeds. They let us get into and out of content quickly, making it easier to read a bunch of content quickly and give us the most flexibility when displaying the content.
Summary feeds don’t have those advantages for readers.The only advantage they hold is for authors; they force users back to your site to see content.
In my personal experience, I start ignoring posts from summary feeds over time. The more I use the reader, the more I want to stay in it, not jump out to another site, and summary feeds are disruptive to that flow.
If you turn on full feeds, we still push a page view back to the original blog when a user clicks through to the full post view. That way, authors don’t lose page views. The views will have a referrer of “WordPress.com Reader” in stats, so it’s easy to see how many people are reading finding your posts via the Reader.
I was wondering what controls the amount of text on the summary feed, and have discovered (on my blog) that if you have filled out the ‘Excerpt’ on the edit post page, then the excerpt will show up on the feed, rather than the shortened feed that fades off the page. Personally, I would prefer that the shortened feed was used, not the excerpt.
We use the excerpt if it’s present and generate one from the content if it’s not. This gives the author more control over what’s shown in the reader, both ours and others.
I miss the images. I really hope you bring them back.
They’re back. 🙂 Refresh and you should see them.
My posts, written in poetic form, are not showing up in that form in the Reader. What’s up?
Excerpts in the Reader don’t always show formatting right now, but we are going to see if we can make that work a bit better in a future update. While that is being worked out, clicking anywhere on the card or the visit links will show formatting including line breaks.
I appreciate that you are aware but you know as well as I that “future update” can mean anything from tomorrow to a year from now. In my understandably self-interested way I would prefer to sense some urgency on behalf of so many of us who use the poetic form. I hope this is understandable.
Should be closer to tomorrow than next year. 🙂 I can’t promise a date, but it’s on our list of things to hit in the short term.
Oh, good that was my question thanks for answering it. My best to you.
I don’t like the new reader. When I click to go the the actual blog it takes me to an impersonal white page. Not loving that feature :(.
– Skylar
Hi Skylar, if you click on the Visit link on the bottom right of the card, you’ll go directly to the blog.
Thank you kindly!!! 🙂
Hi, I’m late to see these reader changes. I guess the features have been decided but I would like to voice my opinion.
I see that if you use Summary as opposed to full text, your post in the reader is deleted of its featured photo and primary tag. I am not happy with this new change. It is generally accepted that a featured photo is an important tool in promoting a blog/post and encouraging a visit, particularly from the reader. I look through the reader now and see bland summary posts and can’t tell if they are photography blogs or other. Without some visual clue, or the tag, I have no incentive to visit these featureless summary posts in my reader. If you’re going to be serious about this particular change then please also delete the like button from the reader on summary posts, to stop people just clicking the like button and moving on without even looking/reading a summary post.
So I could change from summary to full text but then my email only subscribers will receive the full post including photos and not need to visit my blog anymore.
I usually post a few photos in a post linked by text, as an incentive for people to visit rather than just look at the featured photo in the reader. The gallery view nullifies my technique and allows people to just skim the photos, but that’s fine. I understand that reading a full text post in the reader registers as a visit, but does a click on the gallery in a full text post register as a visit?
We’ve turned featured images on summary posts back on.
Why are my blog images and images of other blogs not showing up in WordPress reader… I miss the images 😦
They’re back on summaries.
Okay trying again.
A new issue has started to show.
The summary usually showed a picture that was put in the post. Yet now it does not. And no, dedicating a picture or using a featured picture is not always an option. Depending on the theme and some may be stretched.
Next to that I find that quoted line early in the post are now unquoted in the summary view in the reader. That should not be happening..
I am still not happy with how it turned out even though it looks like it was. Sorry But I am more and more starting to dislike the use on WP. Surely not every change is an improvement and I can’t get used to it.
Images are back on summary cards, and we’re working on improving the excerpts.
Why can I no longer access my Reader at all?
It may be because you’re using an unsupported browser. Can you please make sure you are using a browser that is up-to-date? http://browsehappy.com/ has a list of the latest versions.
I’m not a fan of most of the changes, especially the one which now forces me to choose between posting “full text” in the reader, i.e. leading to a “generic” looking site, or an uninviting summary, with only a short text and no photo.
Both options are bad!
I would at least hope that you will add an option to include 1-2 photos from the post in the summary. Without it, the reader is no longer a tool anymore to attract readers…
“if it’s not broken, why fix it?” Especially if the fix is making it worse…