Helvetireader², the minimal & anti-social theme for Google Reader, is now out. Sort of. It’s an unfinished and ongoing project, but it’s in a ‘ready as it’ll ever be’ state.
Helvetireader is simply a hosted user stylesheet for Google Reader served via a user script. It aims to make the interface a clean, minimal experience where you’re not assaulted by an array of colours, lines, social features and buttons. As it removes these bits, and is designed for the expanded view only, you may not like it.
It’s a very selfish approach, but I don’t have the spare time to cater for everyone’s requirements. So, feel free to grab the CSS and alter it to your own needs. Everything that’s been removed (via display:none) can be found at the end of the stylesheet. All I ask is that you don’t redistribute it without a credit, as it’s been a lot of work to get to this stage.
Helvetireader 2 has been rewritten from scratch, resulting in smaller CSS file. The aim is to get the maximum effect from changing as little as possible. Hopefully it will break less in future Google Reader updates! You can follow progress on twitter to know when you need to refresh your browser to get the new version.