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What are RSS (News) Feeds?
RSS (News) feeds allow you to easily see when a website has added new content
There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but most people plump for 'Really Simple Syndication'. In essence, the feeds themselves are just web pages, designed to be read by computers rather than people.
How do I start using feeds?
In general, the first thing you need is a news reader. This is a piece of software that checks the feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added to a feed. 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 a reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want it to receive (See right for the current list of feeds available from Dowen).
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.
How do I get a news reader?
The range of different news readers available, and their versions are changing
all the time. The link below can be used to help your search get started:
• News Readers at Google
Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer.
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