Although our PixelNews Overview is fairly thorough, we've developed an PixelNews FAQ to help reveal some of the great features and uses of this robust RSS aggregator.

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Q: How do I add a new feed? A: In addition to simply selecting "Add Feed", you can also search and add feeds from the PixelNews Database or even add a feed by dragging and dropping the valid RSS or Atom URL onto PixelNews.

Q: Why isn't this working on my Mac? I have OS 9. A: PixelNews requires Mac OS X 10.3 or later

Q: What is a Channel? A: A Channel is a collection of feeds. A Channel has have a minimum of one Feed and there is no maximum. Individual feeds cannot be displayed in the table view in the left sidebar and have to be part of a Channel. Clicking on the Channel will show the News results for all feeds in that Channel in the HTML display on the right.

Q: How do I add a Channel? A: Command-N will add a new Channel. Every time you add a new feed to PixelNews you will have the option of creating a new Channel for that feed. Command-E will edit the name of a selected Channel.

Q: How do I delete a Channel? A: Choosing Delete will delete a selected Channel. You will be warned before deletion.

Q: Can I delete all Channels? A: You can delete all Channels except for the Breaking News Channel.

Q: Can I resize the Channel icons? A: Yes. Under the menu View Choose Use Small Icons

Q: Can I change the Style Sheet for the main display? A: Yes. Under Preferences:Appearances you can choose a new StyleSheet. Two styles are included and you can create and add your own.

Q: Can I Turn off Java and Javascript for security A: Yes. Under Preferences:Appearances you can chose to turn these values off

Q: The popups are nice, but is there a way to quickly sort news by feed, by date, and links? A: You can quickly sort the first nine feeds in any Channel with the command Key Equivalent: Command-1 to Command-9. You really don't need to remember the Feed names either. Command-0 will show all Feeds.

Q: And Dates? A: Command-Option-1 through Command-Option-4. Command-B for breaking News.

Q: And Summaries? A: Command-L to Show Links Only. Command-D to show Links and Summaries, or full text where available

Q: I have chosen Show Links Only. Is there any way to see a summary of the headlines other than re-showing Links and Descriptions? A: Hover over the headlines and you will get a popup summary in a window

Q: The News is divided into dated paragraphs per Channel. I can "collapse" the paragraphs using the - button, and expand using the + button. Can I use a command key for this? A: Yes. Command-K will collapse the next date, and Command-J will expand the last collapsed date. Command-Shift-K collapses all paragraphs, and Command-Shift-J expands all paragraphs.

Q: Does PixelNews remember these modifications across launches? A: Yes: Take the case where you modify a Channel with All Feeds: Breaking News: Links and Descriptions. This modification displays only the breaking news for all feeds in a Channel. When you see that a Channel with these modifiers is badged as having unread news you can click on it to show the unread news only. This is true across relaunch, and it the easiest way to stay up to date with unread news per Channel. You can, of course, chose to maintain the modifiers in any manner you wish, or customize on a per Channel basis

Q: Will PixelNews work offline? A: PixelNews will restore its cache when you launch it off line. This means that you will have the ability to read the summaries of the news items. You will not be able to click through to the webpage which generated the news item.

Q: How do I search for a feed in the database quickly? A: Use the Search Field in the toolbar. Use the search field popup to refine the search. Choose "Search PixelNews Database, if not chosen by default. You can do more advanced searches, and search by Category, by clicking the Search Icon in the ToolBar.

Q: How do I browse? A: Click on the Browse icon in the toolbar. The browser appears in the sidebar to reveal the Browsing categories. You can browse by eleven categories and numerous sub-categories.

Q: How do I search for a term with in my local news items? A: Use the Search Field in the toolbar. Use the popup to refine the search, chose "My local Channels" or an actual Channel name. Type in your search terms and hit return. The result should display immediately with the search terms highlighted.

You can save this search as a Smart Channel. A Smart channel is a saved live search. And Smart Channels can have breaking news like other channels You can also create a Smart Channel with Command-Shift-N.

Q: Can I search for Multiple Terms? A: Yes.

Q: Why does the Smart Channel not just use the search term as the Smart Channel Name? It asks me twice to input a name when saving a Smart Channel? A: You may have multiple search terms: so a search for Israel Jordon Syria Iraq Saudi would be too verbose, and is better being called "Middle East"

Q: Smart Channels can be hidden. How would I know if I had breaking news in a hidden Smart Channel? The Smart Channels icon in the toolbar will be badged with the total number of breaking news Items for all Smart Channels. You can also choose to just show the unread news for Smart Channels in the Breaking News Channel: in Preferences:Breaking News. In that case the number of unread items for Smart Channels which will badge in the Dock. Therefore you can hide PixelNews knowing that the Dock will be badged when a specific news item of interest appears.

Q: I closed the PixelNews window? Will it update in the background? A: Yes. You can reveal a hidden or closed window with Command-I, or click on the icon on the Dock.

Q: How does PixelNews handle PodCasts and enclosures? A: PixelNews handles enclosures by embedding them in the HTML display. You can play audio or video enclosures in the Feed display. We will add features to download PodCasts seperately in later releases. PixelNews has full support for the rich data set of RSS 2.0 and Atom. Video and Audio can be embedded (in the content:encoded tag) in the actual RSS feed and will display automatically in the Channel.

Q: I get a screen on start up asking me to register? What is that? A: You have used PixelNews for more than 2 weeks. PixelNews costs $25. If you wish to continue to use all of the PixelNews features you need to register. If not then you can continue to use some of the features of PixelNews - but Searching, Smart Channels, and Browsing will be disabled.

Q: Where are the localizations? A: Localizations will come in a 1.x release. Localizers can contact us if they want to be of help.

Q: I want to search in a different language, including two byte languages? Can I? A: Sure. Or search in English for the language you are looking for. Future 1.x version will have a search by language popup.

Q: How do you categorize feeds? A: When we add a Feed we parse its RSS/Atom and home page, for keywords and a snapshot of terms. We match these terms to categories, and refresh the categorization periodically.

Q: Can a feed have multiple categorizations? A: Yes, although this is rare. And Blogs are always categorized as Blogs only.

Q: I added a feed to PixelNews. It hasn't shown up yet. What is happening? A: We periodically add more feeds to the database: first however, we have to verify that the RSS/Atom feed is genuine and is updated regularly. Plus we also have to categorize it properly before we add it to the main database.

Q: How big can the database of feeds get? A: As big as we deem appropriate and subject to the load on the server. We continually hope to add more feeds based on user additions; and cull the feeds that are unpopular, or not updated regularly. We have more than 100,000 feeds for now and growing. However, we would prefer to have 200,000 well maintained feeds than one million untended feeds.

Q: The PixelNews search returns feeds in order of relevance? How is that worked out? A: Relevance is weighted on a number of factors, the number of times the search term appears in the Feed, whether it appears in the feeds title and/or its URL; or just in the feed description, or the homepage that the feed points to, and more. If a search term appears in the title and url of the Feed it will get higher ratings than a mention in the blog. You can search on multiple terms.

This weighting will be reevaluated in respect to popularity. Each time you add a feed from the database into your local Channel we will know about the addition. This will not apply to feeds added via drag and drop, or manually.

Q: Why can't we import OPML or directly from Safari RSS in 10.4? A: Coming soon.

Q: Is PixelNews ready for 10.4? A: Yes. PixelNews will run on Tiger and will adopt the Unified ToolBar look and feel on 10.4. It has the Textured Metal look on 10.3.