What is RSS?

I love RSS feeds! If you haven't gotten hooked on them, you need to!

What is RSS? How do I use it? This is so new to so many of us!


RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication


How simple is it, really? Well, once you get the hang of it, it is easy.


The quick basics: Once you put the "url" to a site into a "feeder," you can view the feeder to quickly see all new posts at all the various sites all handy in one place. It is a one stop place to be informed of new posts.



URL

Although not necessary as most readers will find the URL for you, it is helpful to learn how to get the "url." You will see them everywhere once you become aware of them.

Most of them look similar to this little box.

To get the url, simply (yes, simply!) right click with your mouse and choose "copy shortcut" and it will put the url into your clipboard. Then simply (yes, simply!) paste [control v] the url into the feeder you have chosen.

Just store that knowledge in the back of your head for now as most readers find the URL for you and each feeder has different methods of installing the url's into their feeders, so you will need to read their instructions.



Sometimes you will see icons that will directly add to a specific feeder. In that case, you can simply (yes, simply!) click on the button. This is the button that Feedburner uses.




FEEDER

Next, you need to choose a feeder that you want to utilize. You may need to test out several of them before you choose one as your own.

There are MANY feeders available for your to use. Here is list of them. Or try these listings. Here is a list of some of them. Here is another list of them.

I prefer to use Bloglines, which I find easy to use and easy to read. You can add a button to your favorite links for ease in adding feeds to your account. It's so easy to just click on that when I want to add a feed. Unsubscribing from a feeds or editing it is so easy too. I love how it is so much faster than reading e-mails as you do not have to delete anything. Once you read the feed, it recognizes it. Only non-read feeds are in bold. However, if you want to go back and re-read, you can still do so.

There are several other popular readers, one of which includes Google Reader. I have read that it has more capabilities than Bloglines and that people are preferring it.

The new Internet Explorer 7 has a feature for feeds. You will see the icon in the tool bar at the top of the browser. You can add feeds and read feeds right from your browswer.

To back up your feeds in IE7, click on the icon with the plus sign in front of the star and choose "import and export."

What I love about the new IE7 is the feed icon that changes from grey to orange whenever it recognizes that a site has a feed. I'm getting in the habit of watching it. When I see it turn orange, I know that the site contains an RSS (but then I sub to my Bloglines).

Feedblitz is another popular one because it sends an e-mail when new posts are made, rather than having to log into a feeder. Other readers have this capability as well, such as Bloglines.