[zaszrespawned]

Why not just use RSS? This is time and effort wasted.

Given RSS is old, text only and has XML its very lightweight, has good support and fast readers.

No heavy javascript needed as readers of RSS are often native apps or browser plugins

[shakna]

> as readers of RSS are often native apps or browser plugins

That's probably why.

Most people can barely drive their web browser, and many tech people are reluctant to install new extensions, because of trust issues.

A web page, in a nice pure form like this, is fast, responsive, and easy to use.

[scholia]

You can get news feeds as a web page in various places such as Dave Winer's River of News http://radio3.io/rivers/

Light, ad-free and totally trustworthy ;-)