RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way for a site to publish it's updates. RSS readers can read these notifications and display a listing of the updates to you, the user.
It's sort of like having a special 'inbox' for emails announcing updates to your selected websites.
Many applications and websites support RSS feeds. You can add RSS feeds to your My Yahoo! page, Firefox has several RSS extensions such as Sage, there are sites that deal w/ RSS feeds such as Feedster and FastBuzz. Thunderbird even allows you to set up RSS feeds similar to your inbox.
There are also stand alone applications for RSS feeds like Pluck, RSSReader and SharpReader.
Different readers allow you to subscribe to a feed differently. Using Firefox w/ Sage, for example, you can drag-and-drop the RSS icon into your RSS feed folder and it's done.
What's the benefit?
You can use RSS feeds to see if there's anything new at a given site before visiting the site. This wouldn't be a big help if you only had one RSS feed. However, if you have several sites you check routinely, this can cut the time down tremendously.
It gives you more of an 'at-a-glance' view of all your monitored sites. Imagine if when you went to click on your bookmark for a site that it also said right then if the site had changed and how.
Also, depending on the RSS reader you use, it can tell you when you have a new update on the site.
Sites with RSS Feeds
There are many sites w/ RSS feeds. To know if a site has an RSS feed, look for an "RSS" link on the site or a button/icon w/ RSS, ATOM or XML on it.
One cool use is to set the RSS feed for a news search on a site. At Yahoo! News you can search on a topic in the news and then subscribe to that feed using the XML icon.
A lot of news/info/blog sites have RSS feeds that can help you keep up to date on the info you want.
It's a collection of tech info that's updated regularly. You can see if/when it's been updated in your reader, see the title of the updates and a short summary and then decide if you want to load the site or that post or nothing.
Bottom Line
RSS readers allow you to see the latest updates to sites (and possibly be notified) at-a-glance without having to go to all your sites and load them. It's like peaking into many sites from a single place.
Bear Cahill is a software engineer in the Dallas, TX area and runs a few websites including: The Armchair Geek (thearmchairgeek.com), http://www.webpagehostinginfo.com, http://www.gotocollegeonline.com and http://www.videoexchange.org
Publish freely if this resource box is included and links maintained as links.
Lotus Domino/Notes ? Microsoft Great Plains tandem as ERP with... Read More
If you have been running Windows XP for a couple... Read More
Microsoft released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Windows XP... Read More
This is intermediate level SQL scripting article for DB Administrator,... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has substantial market share and... Read More
Imagine something that follows you home and sets itself up... Read More
The COSMIC FP (function point) software quality metric, is no... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software eEnterprise,... Read More
Do you want to get quality software at a reasonable... Read More
Great Plains Fixed Assets Management module is a robust tool... Read More
Program Flow is what you think it is. How the... Read More
Ok... Where to start?Well, I guess I will start at... Read More
So let's begin crunching down these 300 images using Adobe... Read More
Costs of fleet maintenance software can vary widely. It is... Read More
We are in a transition phase in the Managerial Administration... Read More
Designing without tables by using CSS layouts is fast becoming... Read More
Bar charts, bar graphs, and any other chart or graph... Read More
Microsoft CRM ? Client Relationship Management package from Microsoft Business... Read More
This article is the first of a series of articles... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is becoming more and more popular and... Read More
ERP is the acronym of Enterprise Resource Planning. Multi-module ERP... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains fits to majority of industries, in the... Read More
In today's business world it's all but impossible to escape... Read More
This is a short article, written in question/answer/FAQ style to... Read More
Stop the Runaway MouseWhat's the "runaway mouse?" You've seen it...you... Read More
garage lights commercial street lights Pete's produce ..Remember back in the days where screensavers were the coolest... Read More
Need help making sense of algebra? Have algebra lectures in... Read More
In a previous article, I wrote about... Read More
Although statistics often is blamed for various deadly sins --... Read More
Looking at all the ads which promise to get rid... Read More
So let's begin crunching down these 300 images using Adobe... Read More
MSN messenger is a pretty cool invention. I mean I'm... Read More
The most important things you can do for your computer... Read More
GroupwareThe internet is full of 1.5 million to 7 million... Read More
IBM Lotus Domino or Microsoft Exchange?The severe competition continues for... Read More
Shareware is software that you can try before you buy;... Read More
Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular,... Read More
There are many commands that are used in linux on... Read More
The COSMIC FP (function point) software quality metric, is no... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is main Microsoft Business Solutions accounting package... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software eEnterprise,... Read More
It won't matter how effective your WinRunner Team is if... Read More
First we had the original Google search that evolved into... Read More
The first thing that you will notice about Linux Red... Read More
Since Version 8.0 Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains & Great... Read More
Software Engineering is the Systematic Approach for analysis design implementation... Read More
Microsoft Retail Management (RMS) and Microsoft Great Plains are retail... Read More
In the early days of the personal computer, we're talking... Read More
Preventive Maintenance (PM) is defined as scheduled work done on... Read More
Many Webmasters have never bothered to view their website's server... Read More
Software Software |