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What is RSS?
14 December 2010Have you wondered about that orange symbol that appears on so many websites?
What is it?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) lets you stay up to date on content you wish to follow without having to periodically check the website itself. You may want to subscribe to a variety of your favourite 'feeds' to stay up to date on website content such as:
- blog entries
- news and events
- new product releases or updates
- software releases
- audio, images or video galleries
This saves you time because you do not have to visit each website individually to check for new content. It is all delivered instantly to you in one central location (your feed reader). RSS is handy for both business and personal use (and not just for computer geeks) !
How do you subscribe to a feed?
The content you want to follow must be available in a format that enables you to subscribe and you will need to choose a feed reader (explained in next section). You will notice, the familiar orange icon on the web page - this means you can subscribe (in some web designs they are not orange but more often than not, they are).
- Click and select your feed reader of choice either from a drop down list or checkbox, then the subscription process will start
- Click and copy the URL/website address of the feed page, then paste it into your feed reader
Both methods are fast and easy and only take a few seconds.
The RSS reader then checks the subscribed feeds regularly for any updates from any of your chosen websites, and allows you to read them all from your reader.
Where do I get a reader?
There are quite a few feed readers to choose from but in this article I will outline 2 popular ones, Microsoft Outlook (email) and Google Reader. They are both very very simple to use.
Microsoft Office Outlook
The simplest for many people may be Microsoft Office Outlook (for Windows users who use Outlook, that is). This would send the content directly into your email in-tray. The feeds are kept separate from your normal day to day emails in a folder called 'RSS Feeds'.
And the small screenshot below showing the feeds waiting for you in the in-tray. Your feeds will automatically be filed into their relevant folder as they are received.
Google Reader
Google Reader is a web page that is displayed in your web browser, it lists all of your feeds in an easy to read format.
Firstly you need to create a general Google Account (if you haven't got one already) and also register to use the Google Reader. Both signup processes are very simple and quick. Simply visit this page to register:
To subscribe to the feed using Google Reader, the process is the same as for Outlook as shown above, click on the orange icon on the web page that you want to follow, then simply select the 'Google' option from the drop down or checkbox list.
Alternatively, you can subscribe directly to your Google Reader page by pasting in the web address taken from your feed page of choice (ie after clicking the orange icon, copy and paste the URL from the browser address bar and paste it into your reader).
