The following is taken from an article I wrote on Life Goggles explaining what is RSS, and answering the question what are web feeds?
With the launch of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), RSS has finally came to the masses. Tech savvy (and Firefox) users have been using them for years and yet many people have never heard of them. What is RSS and what are web feeds? RSS may stand for Really Simple Syndication, but what does that mean to you? A web feed is for all intents and purposes, the same as an RSS feed. But what are they and how do you use them? And how are they beneficial to your blog?
RSS simply allows a website to automatically publish a basic file of “what’s new”. A user (i.e. you or your audience) can subscribe to this file (called a feed) and be notified of anything new that has been written on that particular website since you last received an update. It’s a quick and easy way of finding what is new on a site without necessarily having to visit the site yourself. Using a feed aggregator (more on these in a second), you can quickly keep up-to-date on the latest updates to many websites all in one place, and your audience can receive updates to your site via another channel.
Let’s have a quick look at my other site, Life Goggles (the link will open in a new window). When visiting this site, you can see the large orange RSS icon at the top right of the page. On other websites the location and look of these can vary, some examples are below:
That’s all very well, but once you have found a feed, what do you do with it? You need to add this feed to a feed aggregator, a system that collects all your feeds in one place and converts the feed into an easily readable format. There are quite a few ways in which to read these updates.
1. Online
a) Website RSS readers. Some examples are:
Pros: Requires no software installation, available from any computer.
Cons: Need to be online to access.
b) Personalised homepage. There are many varieties of personalised homepages where feeds (as well as other “widgets, such as email inboxes, weather updates, clocks, etc) can be added. These include:
- Live.com (Microsoft)
- My Yahoo. Also the new Yahoo Mail contains the ability to read RSS feeds.
- Pageflakes, Yourminis, Netvibes, plus many more.
Pros: Can also add other “widgets” besides RSS feeds.
Cons: Need to be online to access.
c) Browser Readers. Users of IE7 and Firefox web browsers will see the feed icon on their toolbars “light up”, or appear when a feed is available for a website. They can then subscribe to these feeds and read them directly in the browser as if they were a webpage.
Pros: Easy to add a feed, work just like bookmarks/favourites, but to a feed rather than a webpage.
Cons: Personal preference, I don’t find the feeds as easy to read to other systems.
2. Desktop
a) Standalone reader software
- SharpReader (free)
- FeedReader (free)
- FeedDemon
Pros: Can download and read offline. Typically faster to use.
Cons: Only available on the computer the software is installed on.
b) Integrated into your desktop email
- Mozilla Thunderbird (free)
- Outlook 2007
- Plugins, such as Newsgator Inbox
Pros: Simplifies the reading process, just like email. Doesn’t always require separate software installation.
Cons: Only available on the computer the plugin/software is installed on.
For those who don’t want to use an online/desktop reader, feeds are often available by email. Over at Life Goggles we use a service by Feedburner that automatically emails out any updates to this website every day, and one by FeedBlitz that sends out emails once a week. You can sign up here to see how each of these services work. You can unsubscribe at any time, so don’t worry about trying them out.
Overall RSS/web feeds are an attempt to allow users easy access to the latest updates on their favourite websites, in one convenient place of your choice. Your method of reading them is down to personal preference, try a few of the free options (there are many more than mentioned here, a web search for ‘RSS reader’ will find plenty of alternatives. If you have any suggestions please let us know) and see which one you prefer. Once you find out, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them! Feel free to try out the My Blog Expert RSS feed or the Life Goggles RSS feed.
Its a nice informative post and its great resource for lots of peoples, so to promote your business by using some internet marketing strategy and it can easily to reach the correct market place.
I really like your way of expressing the opinions and sharing the information. It is good to move as chance bring new things in life, paves the way for advancement, etc. But it is well known to everyone that moving to new location with bulk of goods is not an easy task to move or shift from one place to other place because I have experienced about that and I face the problem like that.
I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable, great tool. I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me.
I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable, great tool. I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me.
Thanks for sharing this information. I really like your way of expressing the opinions. I like your blog because your posts are very informative me.
I’ve really enjoyed reading your different articles. They are so informative and interesting. This post give truly quality information. I’m definitely going to look into it. Really very useful tips are provided here. thank you so much.Keep up the good works.
Such a great info about RSS. RSS is a great tool for get good traffic and get good backup for your post. it is work as a feed. It is best tool for generate RSS Feed. It is one types of news feed.
Rss is really good to get traffic. I think it is better the social bookmarking.
I know little bit about RSS but after reading this post i learn new things about RSS and you have provided such a great tips.
nice point… rss now important to reader.. that dont want to missed their favorite site/blog…
Hi Taz – I think FeedBlitz no longer offers a free service, but not 100% sure. Many thanks for the Mac options, sounds great!
Joel, good RSS intro – thank you!
I didn't know about the FeedBlitz weekly email service. That will be useful.
Some built-in RSS reading options for the Mac:
(1) There is a simple RSS reader built into the Safari web browser.
(2) There is is a built in screensaver called “RSS Visualizer”. Whenever the Mac goes into screensaver mode, it will show articles from an RSS feed using some sweeping 3D animation. Very cool!
Hi Taz – I think FeedBlitz no longer offers a free service, but not 100% sure. Many thanks for the Mac options, sounds great!
Joel, good RSS intro – thank you!
I didn't know about the FeedBlitz weekly email service. That will be useful.
Some built-in RSS reading options for the Mac:
(1) There is a simple RSS reader built into the Safari web browser.
(2) There is is a built in screensaver called “RSS Visualizer”. Whenever the Mac goes into screensaver mode, it will show articles from an RSS feed using some sweeping 3D animation. Very cool!
It's a good point Jorge but it's not really an article on why you should be using RSS, but what it is. Perhaps that's something I can add or write separately, thanks!
great but give the benefits to the user, i know you know it but you did not express it
please use simple language as to why to have this, it's powerful, get into it!
sorry if i step on you but feel free to smack me if you wish, i like it!
thanks for the awesome tips.. i hope i will get more traffic as it is one of the most important.