Although it’s been nearly a year since I’ve coded professionally, my web development skills remain fresh in my mind. One tool I maintain on my computer has particularly fascinated me, and I’d like to discuss it in more depth today: Glance, a self-hosted dashboard that consolidates all your feeds into a single web page. Written in Go, it’s remarkably easy to install and configure.
What I appreciate most about my Glance dashboard is its simplicity. It provides a clean interface where I can see updates from all the blogs and websites I follow, notifying me whenever new content is posted. There’s no advertising, no functional limitations, and no algorithmic interference. On one of my configured pages, I have a chronological feed of the latest blog posts from my favourite writers. I’m not bombarded with suggestions to “follow similar blogs” or subjected to any algorithmically curated content—I see only what I’ve chosen to see.
Another feature I particularly value is the ability to aggregate ALL of my subscribed YouTube channels into a single feed. This allows me to stay updated on new content from channels I follow without being inundated by notifications or algorithmic recommendations on YouTube’s main page. Instead, I have my own personalized feed showing only the channels I’ve specifically chosen to follow. Same with my Reddit page, where I see only the subreddits I chose to follow, and no other spam.
What sets Glance apart from other feed aggregators is its flexibility and customizability. The dashboard is highly configurable, allowing users to create multiple pages, each with its own layout and content sources. You can mix and match different types of feeds—RSS, Atom, JSON—and even integrate with services like Twitch or Lobster. Glance also supports custom CSS, enabling users to tailor the look and feel of their dashboard to their personal preferences. This level of customization means that whether you’re a casual reader or a power user managing dozens of information sources, Glance can be adapted to suit your needs.
Moreover, Glance’s open-source nature means it’s continually evolving. The surrounding community actively contributes to its development, adding new features and refining existing ones. As someone with a background in web development, I find it inspiring to see how this tool has grown and improved over time. It’s not just a useful application; it’s a testament to the power of open-source collaboration and the enduring relevance of RSS and similar feed technologies in our increasingly fragmented digital landscape.
There is more options to customize your Glance dashboard, as per the documentation available here. For those of you who wants to gain back the control of your feeds, Glance is the perfect tool for you. I highly recommend it!
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Oh, wow. I gotta say that adding YouTube channels makes it really an interesting alternative to feedly, which I use now. I have to try this.