Posts:
34
From:
San Francisco
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How to use RSS feeds
Posted:
Mar 29, 2006 10:13 PM
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RSS feeds enable you to receive new website content as soon as the content is available. RSS feeds are very simple to use, yet they can be very helpful. For example, you can receive notifications of updates to the Photobird Digital Camera Buyer's Guide, updates to Photobird's People, Places and Things feature on the Look at Pictures page, and notifications of new forum messages. RSS feeds are most often used with blogs, but they can be very useful for other things.
Similar to e-mail messages, new content from RSS feeds shows up as messages in your RSS feed reader. There are web-based readers available, but I haven't found a free one that is easy to use. RSS feed readers that you install on your computer will download updated feeds on a regular schedule as long as you are connected to the Internet.
FeedReader for Windows (http://www.feedreader.com) and Feed for the Mac (http://keeto.net/feed/) are my favorites. These two readers are simple to use and also let you see the date of each new item, which some RSS feed readers do not do.
To use an RSS feed:
1. Right-click on the RSS feed link, such as the "RSS feed" text on the Photobird Digital Camera Buyer's Guide.
2. Copy the link. (On Windows Internet Explorer, click "Copy Shortcut".)
3. Add a new feed to your RSS feed reader. If you're using FeedReader (for Windows), press the F3 key.
4. Paste the link in the field provided, and click the OK button.
5. The feed reader will now regularly check the feed for updates and list them.
The acronym RSS is known to mean many things, the most popular being "Really Simple Syndication", "Rich Site Summary", and "RDF Site Summary". On other websites, RSS feeds will be indicated in a myriad of ways; two of the most popular ways are tiny orange or blue rectangles with the letters "RSS" or "XML" on them. XML stands for Extensible Markup Language, which is the data format that RSS feeds use.
I hope this is helpful to you. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks!
-- Ed
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