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), thearmchairgeek.com, thearmchairgeek.com and thearmchairgeek.com
Publish freely if this resource box is included and links maintained as links.
In the case when you represent mid-size or mid-size-to-large business,... Read More
When you need a phone number, you do a quick... Read More
Formatting and reinstalling windows 98 is very easy if you... Read More
Let's say that you have a software project that's under... Read More
Need software to record your voice, streaming audio or musical... Read More
If you use Microsoft Outlook (or similar applications) for e-mailing,... Read More
While paper labeling CDs and DVDs may appear to be... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very good fit for... Read More
Although we don't know whether Microsoft ever envisioned such a... Read More
Whether you are a small consultancy firm, a medium sized... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains, designed back in 1990th as database transferable... Read More
If you're online using a dialup Internet connection, you'll probably... Read More
Most people understand that the "hardware" part of their computer... Read More
The Internet is reshaping every form of communications medium, and... Read More
If someone entered your home, uninvited and installed numerous cameras... Read More
You might think you don't need a firewall... Read More
Sales are all about leverage, because there is only so... Read More
What is Spyware?Spyware monitors your surfing habits and sends the... Read More
Microsoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with... Read More
What is RAID RECOVERY?RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive... Read More
Find out why Spyware Removal from computers is important and... Read More
I completed an experiment recently. I wanted to find out... Read More
Although statistics often is blamed for various deadly sins --... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very popular ERP platform... Read More
To all web designers out there, this article is for... Read More
Creating a new markup language.Introduction.General Reuse Markup Langauge, or GRML,... Read More
What is a Web Database?A web database is a database... Read More
You might think you don't need a firewall... Read More
A LOT OF UNWANTED FILES.When you uninstall an item of... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is main accounting / ERP application... Read More
... Read More
ERP Consulting industry is on the way to serve clients... Read More
In a previous article, I wrote about OpenOffice... Read More
Microsoft PowerPoint has dramatically changed the way in which academic... Read More
Bar charts, bar graphs, and any other chart or graph... Read More
As you probably know, when Microsoft purchased Great Plains Software... Read More
If you have Microsoft Great Plains and support it for... Read More
Language development computer: Computer-based method for aiding language development seems... Read More
I've been active in the Cisco Certification track for four... Read More
The purpose of Project Management Software is to provide an... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is mid and even corporate... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains could be tuned and setup to fit... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is main mid-market application from Microsoft Business... Read More
This article is the fourth of a series of articles... Read More
Spyware and Adware infest over 90 percent of computers in... Read More
Every organization which creates collaborative documents, whether they are budgets,... Read More
If you copy something from a Web site or elsewhere...... Read More
What is Tripwire?Tripwire is a form intrusion detection system (IDS)... Read More
IntroductionDuring the early years of our modern computer era, very... Read More
With this small article we are continuing Microsoft Business Solutions... Read More
Software |