What is RSS? This is a frequently asked question and I thought it would be a good idea to define RSS and hopefully shed some light on the topic.
Do you want to keep up to date with the latest posts and updates on Dog Care Frenzy?
There are a number of ways that you can subscribe to this site and receive updates. The main one that readers use is the RSS feed. But what is RSS?
What is RSS?
RSS is a technology that is being used by millions of web users around the world to keep track of their favorite websites.
In the past, to keep track of updates on a website you had to ‘bookmark’ each site in your browser and manually return to them on a regular basis to see if anything new had been added.
Problems with bookmarking
- The web surfer had to do all the work
- It can get complicated to track several websites at once
- Missed information when you forget to check your bookmarks
- Seeing the same information over and over again on sites that don’t update very often
Along Comes RSS
What if you could tell a website to inform you every time they add something new? Well, quite simply, this is what RSS does.
RSS is a technology that provides you with a way of getting relevant and up to date information delivered to you. You can then read this information at your convenience. It saves you time and helps you to get the information you want quickly after it was published.
RSS stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’. Many people think of it as a ‘news feed’ that you subscribe to.
I find the ’subscription’ description really helpful. It is like subscribing to a magazine that is delivered to you periodically but instead of it coming to your physical mail box when the magazine is published, it is delivered to your ‘RSS Reader’ every time your favorite website is updated.
How to Use RSS
Get an RSS Reader – The first thing you’ll want to do is to get an RSS Feed Reader.
There are many feed readers available. They have a variety of features – however a good place to start is with a free and easy to use web based one – like Google Reader or Bloglines. Either one will work if you’re starting out. I personally use Google Reader. But the choice is really up to you.
Both of these feed readers work similar to email. When you subscribe to a feed, you will see that unread entries from the site you are following will be bold. As you click on them you will be able to read the latest update right in the feed reader. You have the option to click through to the actual site or to move on to the next unread item – marking the last one as ‘read’.
The best way to learn how to use either Google Reader or Bloglines is to just subscribe to a feed and give it a try. Both have help sections to assist you if you get stuck.
Note: other options to track websites that you might already be familiar with include using pages like MyYahoo, iGoogle and MyMSN.
Finding Feeds to Subscribe to – there are two places to look for a site’s feed:
- On the Site
- In Your Browser
On Site Subscription
You may have seen lots of little buttons and widgets appearing on your favorite sites and blogs. Little orange buttons, ‘counters’ with how many readers a blog has, links called RSS, XML, ATOM and many more.
They come in all shapes and sizes. Here are a few you might have seen:
There are quite a variety – but any time you see any of these buttons or anything like them it means that the site you are viewing almost certainly has a feed that you can subscribe to. In most cases it’s as simple as either copying and pasting the link associated with the button into your RSS Reader or clicking the button and following the instructions to subscribe using the feed reader of your choice.
Browser Subscription
Many internet browsers now have the ability to find and subscribe to RSS feeds built right into them.
When you arrive at a site you can usually tell if it has an RSS feed by looking either in the right hand side or the left hand side of the address bar where you type in the site’s URL.
Click on the little orange icon that you see and you’ll be at Dog Care Journey RSS feed.
If you are using the Safari Browser it is a blue RSS icon. Other modern browsers will have similar icons, but you get the idea.
To quickly and easily subscribe using these icons you’ll want to set up your browser to automatically subscribe with the feed reader you prefer. By default the browser will probably subscribe you using the in-browser reader. To set this up, go to ‘preferences’ or ‘options’ in your browser and choose ‘Google Reader’ or ‘Bloglines’ , for example, as your default feed reader.
Once you’ve done this and have subscribed to a few feeds you’ll begin to see unread items in your Feed Reader and you can start reading.
Email is an Option to Using a Feed Reader
If the above explanation all just seems a little too complicated for you then don’t panic. Many sites also gives you the option to subscribe to RSS feeds via a Email.
Here at Dog Care Frenzy we know that not everyone will be comfortable using RSS so at the top of our right hand sidebar there is a field where you can enter your email address and get an email with a summary of our latest posts. You can unsubscribe at any time and your email will be kept private.
Further Reading on What RSS is
If You Would Rather Watch a Video
VideoJug: RSS In Plain English
I hope you now have a better understanding of what RSS is and what some of your options are.
