Usability
RSSMonster adapts its reading experience to both the amount of detail you want and the screen you are using. On a desktop, choose a view from the View menu in the toolbar. On mobile devices, RSSMonster presents a streamlined interface that keeps the main reading and organization tools close at hand.
Expanded Mode
Expanded mode gives article content most of the available width. Each article appears directly in the main stream with its title, source information, tags, image, and content preview. This mode works well when you want to scan articles without switching between a list and a separate reading pane.
Reader Mode
Reader mode uses a three-column layout: navigation on the left, a compact article list in the middle, and the selected article on the right. It is similar to the reading experience offered by RSS readers such as Feedbin and is useful when you want to move quickly through many articles while keeping the current story visible.
Reader mode is designed for keyboard navigation. See Keyboard Shortcuts for the available commands. Moving through articles with those shortcuts also marks the articles you leave as read, as described in Marking Articles Read.
The list header shows the collection title and total article count. Details reveals loaded-event and source counts and top tags. Date filters are hidden in an empty Reader collection. The three-dot More actions menu contains bulk actions and, for an active search, Save as smart folder.
The selected article has a sticky toolbar for read/unread, saving, Open original, text size (Aa), listening, and expand/restore. Expanding hides the middle list while retaining the sidebar; restoring returns to the three-column layout without losing the selected article or reading position. Text size is remembered in the browser. Listening uses browser text-to-speech when supported.
Summarized Mode
Summarized mode presents articles as a compact stream of titles, metadata, and plain-text previews of the first 100 words of each article. These previews use article text and do not require AI-generated summaries. Summarized reduces visual detail while retaining enough context to decide what deserves a closer look. When no preview is available, RSSMonster offers a link to the original article instead.
Summary bullets and Headlines
Summary bullets shows available generated summary bullets and is offered when AI is enabled. Articles need completed analysis to have those summaries. Headlines is the most compact list. It supports the Mark as read while scrolling preference as well as explicit article actions.
Headlines can expand an article in place while keeping its row anchored in the viewport. Desktop article streams avoid nested scrollbars, and Reader list/content and Expanded scrollbars reveal themselves during scrolling or hover.
Collection actions
Use the collection’s three-dot More actions menu in any article view to mark visible articles read, save them, or record their originals as opened. Relative actions mark loaded articles above, below, or older than the current article. See Marking Articles Read for how each scope is determined.
New-article notifications and date/filter context share the collection’s top area. On narrow screens, filters stay left-aligned and the action menu remains available while summaries shorten or hide to leave room for the controls.
Reading controls and preferences
Status, sort, grouping, and view mode are separate controls. Select a status to choose a collection, a sort to order it, and grouping to combine related coverage. AI-dependent status, sort, and grouping choices appear only when enabled. See Scoring, Events, and Daily Briefing.
With Unread selected, use the toolbar’s sliders button to tune your unread selection. The dialog controls developing coverage, high-trust prioritization, marking read while scrolling, startup selection, and opening article links in a new tab.
Article controls include read/unread state, bookmarks, opening the original, and, when available, related stories, story sources, score explanations, and More like this / Not interested feedback. Use those feedback actions to refine personal interest; they are different from changing read state.
Dark mode and appearance
RSSMonster supports light and dark themes across its reading views, navigation, menus, and settings. Dark mode uses dark backgrounds with light text while keeping selected articles, links, tags, and score badges distinct.
To change the theme in the desktop layout:
- Select the sun-shaped Choose theme button near the top-right corner, beside the Settings gear.
- Choose Dark, Light, or System. The change applies immediately; there is no separate save button.
| Theme | Behavior |
|---|---|
| System | Follows your operating system’s light or dark preference, including changes while RSSMonster is open. This is the default when no preference has been saved. |
| Light | Keeps the interface in the light theme regardless of the system preference. |
| Dark | Keeps the interface in the dark theme regardless of the system preference. |
Your choice is remembered in the browser and saved to your account. Choose System again whenever you want the interface to follow your device’s appearance setting.
The screenshot shows Reader view in dark mode, with navigation on the left, the selected article highlighted in the middle list, and its content on the right. You can use dark mode with the other reading views as well; changing the theme preserves your current collection and reading layout.
The theme picker and full Settings are available in the desktop layout. The compact/mobile gear opens the smaller Options sheet, without a theme picker; the saved theme still applies there, including the device preference when System is selected.
Mobile Experience
RSSMonster provides responsive layouts for phones and tablets. Compatible browsers support installation as a Progressive Web App, so RSSMonster can be launched from a device’s home screen. Pull down on an article collection to reload stored results. Use Fetch new articles in Options to request publisher fetching. In portrait mode, swipe an article to the right to toggle its bookmark.
The mobile settings menu is intentionally slimmer than its desktop counterpart. It exposes a limited set of options chosen for the mobile reading experience while leaving advanced configuration available in the full desktop interface.
Landscape
The landscape layout is optimized for wider mobile and tablet screens, such as an iPad held horizontally. It condenses the navigation and controls while retaining the full article-reading experience.
Portrait
The portrait layout is optimized for phones and other narrow screens. It uses a single-column article stream and compact controls so titles and summaries remain readable without horizontal scrolling.
You can switch views at any time without changing your feeds, folders, or article state. Choose the layout that best matches whether you are scanning, reading in depth, or working on a smaller screen.
Responsive layout reference
Layout follows viewport width, rather than device name or orientation alone:
| Width | Navigation and reading controls |
|---|---|
| Below 768 px | Single-column reading with compact toolbar and Options sheet. |
| 768–879 px | Persistent sidebar with compact toolbar and Options sheet. |
| 880 px and above | Desktop toolbar, full Settings, and Reader view choice. |
Reader view is not offered in the compact/mobile view menu. A tablet can use different shells depending on window size. See Keyboard Shortcuts for keyboard controls and Web App and Notifications for installation and Push permissions.
Score thresholds
When AI is enabled, Settings → Scores provides minimum advertisement, tone, and quality component thresholds on a 0–100 scale. Higher advertisement scores mean less promotional content. These controls affect eligibility; they differ from the normalized 0–1 combined quality filter in Search. Pending or failed inferred analysis is not treated as a completed low score, while deterministic Action overrides still apply.