Google Reader regains some Color

At last! Google is finally realizing that its recent Google Reader redesign is in dire need of some changes, and is starting to listen to its users.

After its monochrome treatment, that made our eyes hurt trying to figure out where each article began/end, Google has finally decided to go back to the web standard and use the traditional blue color for links and titles in Google Reader.

No longer will you have to look for special tweaks, html reformatters, greasemonkey scripts or Chrome extensions to achieve the same goal. At least in regard to colorizing Google Reader's titles and links!

It's a simple tweak, but it does wonders for readability - and it's kind of surprising that it took so much public outcry to figure it out; didn't Google's designer spent time actually *looking* at what they were "designing"?

Anyway, it's a good first step... now just lets hope they also do something about that wasteful top unscrollable section, that uses an absurd amount of space.
I'm no designer, but in under a minute a used MS Paint to show you just how easily it could be done in half the current space or even less:

After all, the purpose of a "reader" is to allow us to read content, not to stare at stuff we'll be using sparingly. Beside, what's the purpose of duplicating ways to access the same functions: like having a "Feed Settings" button that you can also easily access via the feeds in the left column section?

Please reduce its size, and we'll finally be able to use most of the screen estate to what it actually matters.