Using Google Docs to Create A Custom Mobile News Reader

March 2014

How Does This Help? We all make an effort to stay current, and

retrieve our news from various sources It is cumbersome to visit individual websites

(so eliminate this as much as possible) News aggregators, social media, etc. are all

resources, as well as... – Having a basic – bare bones - news feed is

another option.

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Here’s an Example Only interested in the most current

information. So, limit news items to 10-20 items per “category”

Older news simply falls off. News reader is designed to be looked at frequently.

Two popular professional resources are the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Blog posts– This example uses these sites (a WSJ subscription

is needed for access to news stories)

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Use Case Mobile devices – primarily smartphone, but

tablet is fine. Link to review this example can be accessed

here. http://bit.ly/wsj-news-feed– Open on smartphone/tablet and Bookmark the

site (and add to Homescreen, if desired)

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Using the Mini-Reader

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Page selection tabs

Sectionsincluded in this tab

Using the Mini-Reader

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Tap tab to select topic

Tap Link to Open

Tap Here to return to Index

Using the Mini-Reader

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Tap card to switch back to news dashboard

How is This Done?1. Obtain RSS feed URL’s2. Import feed into a Google spreadsheet3. Create Dashboard view using =Hyperlink

function to create article link4. Repeat as necessary – depending on number

of RSS feeds you want in dashboard5. “Publish” dashboard as HTML webpage (via

Google Docs)

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How is This Done?1. Obtain RSS feed URL’s Sample WSJ

– WSJ RSS News Feeds webpage• http://online.wsj.com/page/0_0813.html

– Feed for “WSJ News – US News”• http://online.wsj.com/xml/rss/3_8068.xml

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How is This Done?2. Import feed into a Google spreadsheet Use Google “ImportFeed” function

– Overview of this function here (from “Digital Inspiration” website

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How is This Done?3. Create Dashboard

View– Hyperlink function

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How is This Done?3. “Publish” Google Spreadsheet

– Hide “support” tabs of spreadsheet

– Leaves just tabs we want visible…

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How is This Done?3. “Publish” Google

Spreadsheet…cont.– Publish the document to

a webpage• “File” > “Publish to the

web”

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How is This Done?3. “Publish” Google

Spreadsheet…cont.– Publish the

document to a webpage

• “File” > “Publish to the web”

• Copy link to access “published” pages

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How is This Done?3. “Publish” Google

Spreadsheet…cont.– View link in your

web browser– Available tabs now

show up top and is a viewable only webpage

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Mobile Device Setup - Bookmarks

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Tap card to switch back to news dashboard

Easy 2-Tap Access

Wrap-Up Google Docs makes it simple to receive your

news – updated and published continuously Simple set up and management No maintenance necessary unless you want to

change content 3 basic steps

– Import news using Google’s “ImportFeed” function– Set up dashboard using “Hyperlink” function– Publish to the web for easy sharing and viewable

access

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Questions

Contact Information:

Donald R. Tomoff, CPA, MBADirectorInvenio Advisors LLC (Overview)E don@invenioadvisorsllc.comFind Don on the Web

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