A newsreader is an

application program Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...

that reads articles on

Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...

distributed throughout

newsgroups A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distinc ...

. Newsreaders act as clients which connect to a

news server A news server is a collection of software used to handle Usenet articles. It may also refer to a computer itself which is primarily or solely used for handling Usenet. Access to Usenet is only available through news server providers. Articles and ...

, via the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP), to download articles and post new articles. In addition to text-based articles, Usenet is also used to distribute binary files, generally in dedicated "binaries" newsgroups. The term ''newsreader'' is sometimes (erroneously) used interchangeably with ''

news aggregator In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, feed reader, news reader, RSS reader or simply an aggregator, is client software or a web application that aggregates syndicated web content such as online newspapers, blogs, ...

''. Newsreaders that help users to adhere to the established conventions of Usenet, known as

netiquette Etiquette in technology, colloquially referred to as netiquette is a term used to refer to the unofficial code of policies that encourage good behavior on the Internet which is used to regulate respect and polite behavior on social media platforms ...

, are evaluated by the

Good Netkeeping Seal of Approval The Good NetKeeping Seal of Approval or GNKSA is a designation that indicates a piece of Usenet newsreader (client) software meets a set of usability and formatting standards. The name is a play on the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval", a set o ...

(GNKSA).

Types of newsreaders

There are several different types of newsreaders, depending on the type of service the user needs—whether intended primarily for discussion or for downloading files posted to the alt.binaries hierarchy: Gnus-reading-news

; Desktop newsreaders : Designed to integrate well with common

GUI The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

environments, and often integrated with a

web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...

email client An email client, email reader or, more formally, message user agent (MUA) or mail user agent is a computer program used to access and manage a user's email. A web application which provides message management, composition, and reception functio ...

. Examples:

Windows Live Mail Windows Live Mail (formerly named Windows Live Mail Desktop, code-named Elroy) was a freeware email client from Microsoft. It is the successor to Windows Mail in Windows Vista, which was the successor to Outlook Express in Windows XP and Windows ...

Mozilla Thunderbird Mozilla Thunderbird is a free and open-source cross-platform email client, personal information manager, news client, RSS and chat client developed by the Mozilla Foundation and operated by subsidiary MZLA Technologies Corporation. The projec ...

Xnews Xnews is a freeware Usenet newsreader created by Luu Tran. It is written in Delphi, and it is 100% GNKSA 2.0 compliant. Some of its features were inspired by the program NewsXpress. Tran says that he designs the Xnews interface and features ...

Forté Agent Forté Agent is an email and Usenet news client used on the Windows operating system. Agent was conceived, designed and developed by Mark Sidell and the team at Forté Internet Software in 1994 to address the need for an online/offline newsreader ...

Unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

, Newswatcher and Pan. ; Traditional newsreaders : Designed primarily for reading/posting text posts; limited and often cumbersome binary attachment download functionality.

Gnus Gnus (), or Gnus Network User Services, is a message reader which is part of GNU Emacs. It supports reading and composing both e-mail and news and can also act as an RSS reader, web processor, and directory browser for both local and remote f ...

, as well as more specialized newsreaders such as

slrn slrn is a console based news client for multiple operating systems, developed by John E. Davis and others. It was originally developed in 1994 for Unix-like operating systems and VMS, and now also supports Microsoft Windows. It supports scoring ...

, nn and

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

. ; Binary downloaders : Although Usenet originally started as a text-based messaging system without any file attachment ability, many Usenet users today do not participate in

discussion groups A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or participants who have other common traits/experiences. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are ...

, as was common during the 1980s and 1990s and only use newsgroups for downloading files such as music, movies, pornography, software and games. Therefore, streamlined clients have been developed for quickly grabbing binary articles, and without the extraneous clutter of text reading and posting features for which file downloaders have little use.

References

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Types of newsreaders

See also

References