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What is RSS?
and Why You Need a RSS Reader / Aggregator
Copyright Herman Drost Posted 09/12/06
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What is RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It's a new way
for people to publish and distribute their content ie news,
headlines, newsletters, articles etc. It's a Web content
syndication format. An RSS file is written in a simple
language called XML. It is a lot like HTML, only simpler.
An XML file contains the information (Title, Description
and Link URL) that your audience will receive through a RSS
reader.
Syndication means you don't have to visit each site
individually to see what's new -- you simply scan headlines
or brief article summaries and click to read the full text.
An RSS feed is created in a non-HTML format called XML.
RSS readers or aggregators can interpret and display that
coding, but Web browsers can't. Soon, RSS/XML readers
will be part of every browser and e-mail software. But for now,
you need a separate reader.
You use an RSS reader to bring new, constantly updated
material to you, from all your favorite sites. There is no need
to check whether a site has updated.
RSS feeds bring automatically updated information straight
to your desktop. You can monitor news, job listings,
personals, and classifieds. Thousands of sites now offer
feeds, which you can identify by a small orange button that
says either RSS or XML. However, if you click one of these
links, you will most likely get a page full of code in your
browser. To properly read the feed, you need an RSS reader.
Content published in an RSS feed is typically set up to
send out notifications whenever new material is available.
This makes the new content immediately available to feed
readers and RSS search engines. Contrast this with ordinary
web pages, which are essentially passive and generally
aren't accessible to most of us until search engine
crawlers find and index them. Once indexed, these pages
stand relatively little chance of being read by web
searchers on a frequent basis.
Instead of opening your Web browser when you sit down at
the computer, you open your news feed reader, usually a 2-
or 3 paned window that allows you to see at a glance which
sites have added content, and to scan clickable headlines
and summaries of that content. Imagine looking at update
info on 10-20 sites at a single glance, and never waiting
for a single page to load!
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RSS Tools You Need
Here is a collection of some of the most popular
newsreaders/aggregators for reading article feeds, news etc.
Win users
1. RssReader - It's free!
2. BlogExpress
3. Other RSS Readers - if you want to try several before deciding
The most important point about RSS newsreaders is that they
should be fast and simple to download, install, and start
adding feeds. If it's not, find one that does.
Mac users
4. NetNewsWire has a free trial and is the best of a smaller selection.
5. My Yahoo
6. MSN
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How to Get Started With RSS
Simply right-click on the orange RSS button
(control-click
for Mac users) for each feed that interests you.
Select Copy Shortcut ("Copy Link to Clipboard" for Mac;
"Copy Link Location" if you use Firefox browser) then paste
that URL into your RSS Reader.
And that's it! You're subscribed.
(If you prefer, click on the My Yahoo!,My MSN buttons and ect. to
add each feed to "Your" Yahoo!, MSN and ect.)
Now you have the ability to quickly scan the sites that
interest you without being bombarded by unwanted email
messages.
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Herman Drost is a Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
and owner of iSiteBuild.com
Web Site Design, Web Hosting, Web Site Promotion
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