Last week we released NetNewsWire 6.1 for Mac with a big new feature: themes for articles.

This is one of those features from NetNewsWire of Yore that we’re bringing back — it’s pretty fun, which is reason enough, but for some people it’s also an accessibility issue, and that’s a compelling reason. It’s an accessibility issue because a person can create or customize a theme with the fonts, sizes, colors, and layout that makes reading easiest for them.

To get more of an idea of what these themes are, check out Hans Schülein’s unofficial NetNewsWire Themes Directory, which shows the built-in themes plus some themes built by NetNewsWire users.

If you already use NetNewsWire, just do a Check for Updates. Or you can download NetNewsWire 6.1 and give it a go. (It’s free and open source — there’s no trial period or commitment or anything. Just use it if you like it.)

Other changes since NetNewsWire 6.0.3

• Copy URLs using repaired, rather than raw, feed links
• Restore article scroll position on relaunching app
• Added Copy Article URL and Copy External URL commands to the Edit menu
• Fixed a bug where using cmd-Q wouldn’t always quit the app as quickly as one might prefer
• Disallow creation of iCloud account in the app if iCloud and iCloud Drive aren’t both enabled
• Fixed bug showing quote tweets that only included an image
• Added a hidden pref to suppress downloading/syncing on start: defaults write com.ranchero.NetNewsWire-Evergreen DevroeSuppressSyncOnLaunch -bool true
• Video autoplay is now disallowed
• Article view now supports RTL layout
• Fixed a few font and sizing issues

iOS Note

We’re working on NetNewsWire 6.1 for iOS, which will also include the themes feature. It’s in TestFlight now, and we have a few bugs still to fix. Once it’s released you’ll be able to use themes in iOS, which is a feature even NetNewsWire of Yore never had. 🐣🐥