What is RSS?
RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication, is an easy way to keep up with your favorite news and information. An RSS feed contains headlines, summaries and links to full news stories on a web site. If you click an RSS link, you will see XML (or eXtensible Markup Language) code in your browser. This is to be expected, since you do not view RSS content through a browser. You view the headlines through an RSS news reader (also called an RSS aggregator).
What are RSS Readers?
RSS news readers are small software programs that aggregate RSS feeds and display the story information. They allow you to scan headlines from hundreds of news sources in a central location.
Where Can I Get an RSS Reader?
A wide range of RSS readers can be easily downloaded from the Web. Some readers are Web-based while others require you to download a small software program onto your desktop. Most are free to use.
How Do I Use These Feeds?
The first step, as described above, is to choose an RSS reader. Each reader has a slightly different way of adding a new feed (also called a "channel"). In most cases, here's how it works:
1. Click on the link for the channel you want. You may see a page displaying XML code.
2. From your browser, copy the URL that appears in your Address Bar. For example, the URL you would copy for IFT News Feeds is: http://www.ift.org/index.rdf
3. Paste that URL into the'Add New Channel' section of the reader. You should be all set! The RSS feed will start to display and regularly update the headlines for you.
Free RSS Stand-Alone Reader Software
News readers are software programs that you download to your computer that will interact with Web sites to fetch headlines and news updates automatically for you. Instead of going to various Web sites to get the latest information, or filling your e-mail In box with news releases, you can just check your news reader periodically to see the latest postings.
Many news readers are available for free. RSS aggregation is built into modern web browsers, such Mac OS X Tiger's Safari, the upcoming Windows Internet Explorer 7.0, and the popular cross-platform Firefox. You can also choose to use a standalone RSS reader such these below:
| For PCs: | |
RSS Reader |
|
FeedReader |
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For Apple Macs: |
|
NetNewsWire Lite for Mac |
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