Learning

LaptopRSS feeds

What is a RSS feed?

RSS is a way of providing content or summaries of web content in a simple format. Most feeds consist of links to web pages, sometimes with a short description, but feeds can also include audio (podcasts) and video (vidcasts) content.

The advantage of RSS is that you can quickly scan a large amount of content to find new and updated content. The RSS feed is read by a stand-alone reader, your browser or a web-based service which automatically checks to see which of your chosen feeds have updated content.

How do I get a RSS reader?

You can either download a stand-alone reader, use the reader in your browser or use a web-based reader. There are also readers that deliver RSS feeds as email or to your mobile. A brief list is below or go to News on Feeds for a large selection.

Browsers

Having your RSS feeds read by your browser has the advantage of not requiring any additional software. Current versions of most mainstream browsers have this feature.

Web services

Using a web-based RSS reader has the advantage of being available from any web-enabled computer anywhere in the world as all you do is log in. Services are often teamed with web-mail, blogging, etc.

How do I find feeds?

News sites

Many blogs and news type web sites will feature a RSS feed. Look for the standard RSS icon RSS icon although many sites use other icons which may read XML, RSS (frequently on an orange background) or icons of the key RSS readers.

How do I subscribe to RSS feeds?

How you subscribe to RSS feeds will depend very much on what reader/browser combination you choose to use.

If subscribing in your browser look for the standard RSS icon RSS icon in your browser (often the address bar) - if its there it means that there are RSS feeds available from that page. Click on the icon and you will see a list of available feeds from which to select the one(s) you would like to subscribe to.

  • Drag the logo onto your RSS reader, or
  • Right-click the logo and selecting "Copy Shortcut or Copy Link Location" to copy the RSS feed URL, which you can then paste into the appropriate place in your RSS reader

Related pages

Find out more about RSS