Google web services are known for their functionality, but most people are getting tired of the sickening white-blue-black color scheme that disgraces almost all of Google’s services.
Google Reader is by far the most popular RSS reader, and its functionality, power tips and shortcuts have been praised highly. However, as with everything else Google, Reader could do with a touch of style.
As always, there would be a community of fans to take care of such shortcomings, and the solutions come in two ways. Both methods apply for Firefox only.
Mac OSX-style Google Reader
OSX-style Google Reader skin prettifies Google Reader to mimick the Mac OS X’s mail client, Mail.app’s interface. OSX-style Google Reader is available as a Stylish style (referred to as userstyle) or Greasemonkey script (referred to as userscript on the skin’s page).
Installing OSX-style Google Reader
- Install Firefox.
- Install Greasemonkey or Stylish extension for Firefox. I would recommend Greasemonkey extension, because it can be used for styles and scripts, whereas Stylish is for skinning alone.
- Install OSX-style Google Reader skin (choose “Load into Stylish” if you installed Stylish extension in previous step, or “Load as userscript” if you installed Greasemonkey in previous step).
Note: Google Reader has had its layout changed, hence I linked to an updated user style. It is slightly different from what is shown in screenshots above.