Finally -- Google Reader Gets Search

Google Reader is a great way to speed through your RSS feeds, but I always wondered why it didn't include a search function. It's like McDonald's forgetting to offer you fries or Starbuck's not anticipating you might want coffee with your croissant. Search is what Google does, so I always wondered why they didn't do it here.

Well, I need wonder no longer, because starting today, there's a search box at the top of Google Reader.

A drop down menu lets you choose whether to search in all your blog feeds, just one folder, one feed or only in items you've starred or shared with others.

The results come back with the most recent items on top. As with other parts of Reader, you can choose between a list view that pretty much just shows headlines:

Or you can choose the expanded view, that shows as much of the item as the feed provides:

Finally, you can choose a view that's apparently only available in search that looks more like a traditional Google results page:

The system seems to work pretty well, but there are still some things missing that I'd like to see. For instance, there are no advanced search options. I'd like the ability to search only for items that were published today, or last week or last month. Lots of times I remember seeing something in my feeds and I remember approximately when. Being able to narrow the time frame would mean not having to sift through quite so many results.

And while they're at it, why not allow you to search in blogs that you haven't subscribed to. I know I can do that at Google's BlogSearch, but why make me open a new tab?

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