the sephone blog

What is RSS

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way for web sites to relay their newly published content to you. It’s often used by blogs or news sites and very widely supported.  Rather than going to a website to view the content, the content is “pushed” to you.

Why would I use RSS

Instead of having to visit several websites to view their content, those same sites can just send their updates to you via RSS. This would enable you to just check one place for new information instead of going to numerous other sites.

It can help cut down on spam as well. With email, the sender decides if the recipient wants the message; with RSS, the recipient decides if they would like the information. Therefore little to no spam comes through RSS feeds.

How do I know if a site has a feed

In most browsers, an orange icon, similar to the one in this post will appear around the address bar.  By clicking on it, you can see the feed.  Sometimes you will see a link on a site called “RSS” or “feeds” as well.

How do I use RSS

You are going to need a feed reader. The feed reader is an application that subscribes you to the updates.  This application wiill pull RSS feed data into one place for you to view.  We can write volumes about the numerous applications, but we are going to stick to the basics.

Web Browser Based

A web browser based feed reader is one that you use with your web browser. Your web browser is what you view the internet with, like internet explorer, firefox or safari.   With your browser you go to the feed reader site, login, and it will show you your feeds’ content.  Here are a list of popular feedreaders.

• Google Reader
• Blog Lines
• My Yahoo!
• News Gator

Most of these are easy to setup and use.  Plus they can be used for any computer that has internet access.  The rest of these need to be linked to a single computer.  If you don’t know which one of the below feed readers to use, try one of these.  I personally use google reader.

Vista Based

Windows Vista has it’s own way of dealing with RSS feeds.  Here are the basic steps.

1. Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button and then clicking Internet Explorer.
2. Go to the website that has the feed you want to subscribe to.
3. Click on the feed button
4. Click Subscribe to this Feed.
5. Type a name for the feed and select the folder to create the feed in.
6. Click Subscribe.

Once you are subscribed it will show in your internet explorer.  You can now add the feed to your vista sidebar or to your windows mail program.

Outlook

Inside of Microsoft Office, Outlook provides RSS functionality.  If you have outlook installed, by clicking on the feed icon in the address bar, Outlook will subscribe to automatically.

Thunderbird

If you have Thunderbird installed, it makes a great feed reader.

1. Go to the “File” menu and select “New -> Account”. Alternatively, you can go to the “Tools” menu and select “Account Settings”, and click on the “Add Account” button.
2. In the dialog box that pops up, select “RSS News & Blogs” and press the “Next” button.
3. Enter an account name, press the “Next” button, and finally press the “Finish” button. This new account will now appear in the folders pane in the main Thunderbird window.
4. Right-click on the account name in the folders pane and select “Manage Subscriptions”.
5. Click on the account name in the folders pane, and then click on the “Manage Subscriptions” link in the main Thunderbird window
6. Go to “Tools -> Account Settings”, click on the account name in the left-hand pane, and then click the “Manage Subscriptions” button.
7. click the “Add” button
8. enter the URL for the feed into the box
9. click “OK”

Apple Mail

1. Choose File > Add RSS Feeds or click the Add (+) button at the bottom of the sidebar, and then choose Add RSS Feeds.
2. Browse and select a feed you’ve bookmarked in Safari, or enter or paste the URL of a new feed. To search feeds you’ve bookmarked in Safari, start typing in the search field. To select from a list of bookmarked feeds, Shift-click to select feeds that are next to each other in the list; Command-click to select feeds that are not next to one another.
3. If you want RSS feeds to be included in your Inbox, click “Show in Inbox.”
4. Click Add

What are some feeds I can start with

• Sephone Blog
• Maine.gov has dozens of feeds
• WABI TV-5 Central Maine news

Nearly all blogs and news organizations have RSS feeds as well.