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What is RSS?
News feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and articles all in one place, as soon as its published on the website, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from. Feeds are also known as RSS 'Really Simple Syndication'. In essence, the feeds themselves are just web pages, designed to be read by computers rather than people.
How can I make use of RSS?
In general, the first thing you need is something called a news reader. This is a piece of software that checks the feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications.
Browser-based news readers let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from any computer, whereas downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer, in the same way that you either download your e-mail using Outlook, or keep it on a web-based service like Hotmail.
Once you have chosen an RSS feed, all you have to do is to decide what content you want it to receive.
If you click on the RSS button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader. Most sites that offer feeds use a similar orange button, but some may just have a normal web link.
Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites. (Please see right-hand panel for details).
How do I get a News Reader?
There is a range of different news readers available and new versions are appearing all the time.
Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer's operating system.
How can I sign up to use RSS feeds?
Go to your favourite web sites and look for the RSS logo or feed. Right click with your mouse, on the link that says “RSS or XML Feed” when the menu comes up click on "Copy Shortcut". You will then need to follow the instructions for your particular News Reader in order to add the XML feeds to your RSS list.
Related Internet links
• Browsers with RSS readers
• FREE RSS News Readers
• RSS readers for Windows
• RSS readers for Mac
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