What is RSS and How Do I Read It?

By glblguy

One of the questions I get asked frequently here on Gather Little by Little is “What is RSS?”. To answer this question, I thought I would write up a very simple explanation.

What is RSS?

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. RSS is a web feed format used by blogs and websites to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. RSS is basically a specialized format for blog posts that can be consumed and displayed by RSS readers. The main benefit of RSS for readers is that it allows you to aggregate all of your favorite websites and blogs to one place, keeping you from having to visit your favorite sites individually.

How to read RSS

RSS feeds are generally read using software called an RSS “feed reader”. You subscribe to a feed by entering the feed’s link into the feed reader software or by clicking on the following icon which is the now found on most all websites supporting RSS feeds.
Once the feed is added, the RSS reader checks the user’s feeds regularly for new content and downloads them automatically for you. It basically allows you to read all of the latest content for all of those websites you visit in one place. It saves considerable time in checking the sites manually and they keep track of what you have read and what you haven’t.

Google Reader

My preferred RSS reader is Google Reader. Reader is a web-based RSS reader that has a very easy to use interface, and supports keyboard shortcuts. There are many other options though.

Subscribe via RSS

To subscribe to our feed, click on the RSS icon in the top right hand corner, or click here !!

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4 Responses (including trackbacks) to “What is RSS and How Do I Read It?”

  1. Rukshan Kothwala Says:
    July 14th, 2007 at 7:35 am

    your blog is very good.Because it’s different from typical blogs.Do you know the method to add a large feed icon to a blog.I mean the icon that appear on this post.(Not your feed)

  2. glblguy Says:
    July 14th, 2007 at 11:16 am

    Hi Rukshan, thanks for nice comment I really appreciate it. I downloaded the icon pack from http://www.feedicons.com/. The large one like above is in the download package as a grayscale file along with a readme file that tells you how to color it whatever color you would like (I used Photoshop). If you need any help or have trouble coloring it, just drop me a line on my Contact Us page in the top right corner and I’ll help you out however I can.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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