An RSS feed is created in a non-HTML format called XML. RSS
readers or aggregators can interpret and display that coding,
but Web browsers can't. Soon, RSS/XML readers will be part of
every browser and e-mail software. But for now, you need a
separate reader.
You use an RSS reader to bring new, constantly updated material
to you, from all your favorite sites. There is no need to check
whether a site has updated.
RSS feeds bring automatically updated information straight to
your desktop. You can monitor news, job listings, personals, and
classifieds. Thousands of sites now offer feeds, which you can
identify by a small orange button that says either RSS or XML.
However, if you click one of these links, you will most likely
get a page full of code in your browser. To properly read the
feed, you need an RSS reader.
Content published in an RSS feed is typically set up to send out
notifications whenever new material is available. This makes the
new content immediately available to feed readers and RSS search
engines. Contrast this with ordinary web pages, which are
essentially passive and generally aren't accessible to most of
us until search engine crawlers find and index them. Once
indexed, these pages stand relatively little chance of being
read by web searchers on a frequent basis.
Instead of opening your Web browser when you sit down at the
computer, you open your news feed reader, usually a 2- or 3
paned window that allows you to see at a glance which sites have
added content, and to scan clickable headlines and summaries of
that content. Imagine looking at update info on 10-20 sites at a
single glance, and never waiting for a single page to load!
RSS Tools You NeedHere is a collection of some of the most popular newsreaders for
reading article feeds, news etc
Newsreaders | AggregatorsWin users
1. RssReader (
http://www.rssreader.com/ ). It's free! 2.
BlogExpress
(
http://www.usablelabs.com/productBlogExpress.html )
3. If you want to try several before deciding
(
http://www.2rss.com/readers.php)
The most important point about RSS newsreaders is that they
should be fast and simple to download, install, and start adding
feeds. If it's not, find one that does.
Mac users4.NetNewsWire has a free trial and is the best of
a smaller selection.(
http://ranchero.com/netnewswire)
5. My Yahoo (
http://my.yahoo.com/ )
6. MSN (
http://my.msn.com/ )
How to Get Started With RSS Simply right-click on the orange RSS button (control-click for
Mac users) for each feed that interests you. Select Copy
Shortcut ("Copy Link to Clipboard" for Mac; "Copy Link Location"
if you use Firefox browser) then paste that URL into your RSS
Reader.
And that's it! You're subscribed.
(If you prefer, click on the My Yahoo! or My MSN buttons to add
each feed to "Your" Yahoo! or MSN.)
Now you have the ability to quickly scan the sites that interest
you without being bombarded by unwanted email messages.
Read Part 3 of this article: How to
Create an RSS Feed for Your Web Site
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