RSS

What Is RSS?

RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication', 'Rich Site Summary' or 'RDF Site Summary'; they are all the same. It is a means by which you can have the latest news from all over the internet delivered to you in one place as soon as it is published, rather than you having to check to see if a site has been updated; you simply subscribe to the RSS feeds that interest you. The following information should help you get started with RSS feeds.

Using RSS Feeds

You will need a news reader - sometimes called an aggregator, a feed reader or an RSS reader. A news reader checks the RSS feeds you have subscribed to and lets you read any new articles that have been added to them. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications. Some you need to buy, but there are many free readers available.

Once you have a news reader, you can then subscribe to the content you want to receive. Typically this is news stories and articles, but you can also recieve updates on image, video and audio files. Depending on the news reader you can subscribe to news feeds in a number of ways: for example by dragging the URL of the RSS feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the RSS feed URL into it.

Where Can I Get A News Reader

You will need a news reader compatible with your computers operating system. This website has a list of News Readers grouped by operating system: allrss.com.

How Do I know If A Website Has An RSS Feed?

Most sites have a button that links to the news feed; it will usually say "RSS" or "XML". Some sites just have a normal link.

Our RSS link looks like this:

Most web browsers automatically check for RSS feeds when you visit a website and display an icon if one is available. Browsers that do this include Firefox, Opera and Safari; check on their websites for more details.