What's This RSS Thing?
Jul 17, 15:15 by Lorna
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. The TLA (Three Letter Abbreviation) makes it sounds more complicated than it really is.
So What Is It?
RSS is a way of publishing information about updates to a site. Usually websites update their content quite sporadically (look at the dates of the posts on this site and you will know what I mean), it can take a long time to go to each site in turn to see if there is anything new. The idea of RSS is that you subscribe to the feed and then your feed reader will tell you when there is new content. Sites can either publish just a summary of the article or the whole thing.
How can I start reading feeds?
First of all you will need something to read the feeds with. There are a number of programs which do this (if you have a favourite then please post it in the comments), Opera has a very good feed reader. Alternatively you can use on which is online rather than on your computer – this is useful if you are likely to want to read feeds from more than one location. A good example of an online version is bloglines, you can get an account for free and start adding feeds right away. Just register and log in, then you are all set. For example to add the Woollyblanket RSS feed, just copy the address of the link which reads “RSS” on the right hand side, then add it to your feed reader. When we post more content, you’ll get it listed in your feeds.
What kind of things might I use it for?
Well, that depends on what you are interested in. You can subscribe to Woollyblanket of course, and perhaps a news site. I have the Dilbert Feed add to mine, which amuses me greatly :) I also have the feeds of my friend’s sites which get updated only rarely but whose news I’d like to keep up with. Anywhere you see the little RSS icon, you can click on it and add the address it gives you to your feed reader.
In Conclusion
RSS feeds are a very low-energy way to keep up with interesting content on the web – especially if the content is infrequently updated which means a lot of fruitless visits to the page. By using a reader you will get lists of new content. You can either read it, mark it to read later, or just delete it from your list. You won’t miss anything and you don’t have to read anything that doesn’t interest you. Some days I wonder how I kept tabs on anything without it.
