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What is RSS

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a specially designed XML format used to share web content.

Why RSS?

Why go anywhere to get your newspaper when someone can deliver it to your door? RSS is the online version of deliveries. They are called 'feeds' because you choose to 'get fed' certain snippets of information every time your favourite sites are updated. RSS gives you the option of monitoring selected news sources from all over the web from the comfort of your own desktop.

How to receive RSS?

In order to be able to receive RSS newsfeeds you need

a news feed aggregator, or news reader and
Some websites from which you want to receive content

There a few feed aggregation options:

download an application to your desktop - a news aggregator tool. In order to download a news aggregator, you can go to http://blogspace.com/rss/readers and select one based on what operating platform you are using.
download an Outlook plugin so your rss comes into your email client. Go to http://www.newsgator.com/ngs/ default.aspx and download it from there.
sign up for an online site such as www.bloglines.com. This is an online service - you can access it from any computer and don't need to download software or plug-ins.

Once you have downloaded and installed an RSS feed aggregator, you can start to select the newsfeeds that you want to receive by copying the XML / RSS feed link from the Web Site and pasting it into the newsreader. Look for the orange RSS or XML logo. When you have subscribed to an RSS feed, you will receive all news from that feed directly to your aggregator. News will be automatically updated if you are connected to the Internet.

How to find RSS Newsfeeds to subscribe to.

Although a lot of Web sites provide RSS feeds on their pages, there are many others that are not as easily accessible. The good news, however , is that there are several online directories listing available RSS feeds - many of these with a brief review - which will make your job of finding the right feeds much easier. To help you get started, here are a few to try out: