BinaryWolf

What is RSS?

RSS in Plain English

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows you to see when sites from all over the internet have added new content. You can quickly and easily get the latest headlines and articles, audio files, photographs or video in one place, as soon as they are published, without having to remember to visit each site every day.

It takes the hassle out of staying up-to-date, by showing you the very latest information that you are interested in. An RSS reader automatically checks for news and updates for you.

How do I start using RSS feeds?

In general, the first thing you need is something called a news reader. This is software that checks RSS feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added to them. 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 home or business computer.

Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want to receive in your news reader, by finding and subscribing to the relevant RSS feeds. For example, if you would like the latest BinaryWolf Blog posts, simply add http://feeds.feedburner.com/BinarywolfBlog to your news reader by copying and pasting the URL into a new feed in your news reader.

Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for RSS feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one.

Google Reader and Bloglines are popular Web based readers.

Google has a comprehensive Directory of News Readers. Yahoo! has a list of RSS Readers and Aggregators as well.