What Are
RSS Feeds?
The Basics
If you are new to the terms RSS
or news feeds then you are in the
right place, read on and find out
a little more about them and how
they may offer you or your business
a new way of communicating.
RSS Feeds or news feeds are growing
quickly and have become a major
part of the Internet but many users
don't understand what they are.
They allow people to see when their
favourite websites have added new
content without actually having
to go to that website, this can
be done through simple, often free
pieces of software named RSS readers.
The term RSS is short for "Rich
Site Summary" but many people
now refer to it as "Really
Simple Syndication". It was
mainly used by news groups and sites
to quickly share and broadcast their
news with people. This proved to
be a huge benefit as not only could
they reach a huge audience quickly,
they found that user's integrated
feeds into their own website, this
has been shown by the success of
the BBC news feeds.
How to start using RSS feeds for
your self?
In order for you to receive the
latest news on topics of interest
to you, firstly, you need a newsreader
to be able to view the RSS feed.
There are many to choose from, some
Internet browsers such as Firefox
(our favourite at Blueprint IT)
have a built in RSS reader but there
are many stand alone pieces of software
which are also free that will enable
you to receive the latest news.
We will use Mozilla Firefox and
Internet Explorer 7 as examples
because they are very simple to
use.
Once you have chosen your newsreader
your ready to pick up news. Simply
choose the websites with your favourite
information on and if they have
a news feed then all you have to
do is subscribe to it (this is almost
invariably free). You can subscribe
to any RSS feeds by clicking on
the orange RSS feed button symbol,
this will allow you to receive all
the news from that feed. Alternatively,
some websites may not provide you
with the RSS feed button but may
provide you with a link, simply
copy and paste this link into your
news reader and you will be able
to pick up the feed.
The RSS Feed will present you with
a page full of news from the website
that you chose. You have the option
to subscribe to the RSS Feed, this
will act like a bookmark that will
let you visit the page at any time.
Alternatively, if you decided to
use a standalone RSS Feed reader,
you will automatically download
the latest news through the software
each time you open it.
There are many benefits to RSS
Feeds to both business owners, customers
and general internet users, it's
just a quick and simple way to share
or view news from your favourite
sources with the minimum of effort.
Rob Jones designs and develops
custom websites on a daily basis
for Blueprint IT (http://www.BlueprintIT.co.uk).
