![]() ![]() When viewing an RSS page, there will be a message at the top of the page to subscribe to the feed. Once you obtain a feed reader, subscribing to an RSS feed is as simple as looking for the appropriate feed link.įor Google Chrome users, the RSS Feed Reader and Feedly extenstions are popular choices and can be found on the Google Chrome Webstore along with other options.įor Mozilla Firefox users, the Brief and Simple RSS Reader extensions are popular choices and can be found in the Firefox Addons page along with other options.įor Internet Explorer users, an RSS reader is already built into your browser. Performing a search for "RSS Feed Readers" in any major online search engine such as Google or Yahoo! will produce a bundle of software options-many of which are free. Instead of remembering to visit a favorite website, news comes directly into your computer daily or at whatever interval you want.įirst, you need a feed reader. This offers the ability to try various different feed readers without the hassle of having to re-enter all of the feed URLs.RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way to publish information online. ![]() It is important to note here that most feed readers will allow exporting of a users list of subscribed news feeds into a single OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) formatted file that can then be imported into almost any other feed reader. The web-based feed readers listed here are all available at no charge. Other common web-based readers include Bloglines ( ) and Netvibes ( ). The most common and likely the best web-based feed reader is Google Reader ( ), which is very user-friendly and feature-rich. Some common desktop feed readers include Great News ( ), which is free, and Feed-Demon ( ), which is available for purchase for approximately $30 at the time of this writing. The news item will sometimes be a brief introduction to a more complete article that will then be “linked to” from within the item, allowing users to visit the originating site to read the complete article and view other articles. In this way, users can keep an archive of past items that are deemed important or that are to be re-read at a later time. ![]() All but the most basic feed readers will also allow items to be saved or kept as “unread” so that they will be available until actively removed. They also offer the convenience of tracking which feed items a user has read, therefore only displaying new content. Web-based feed readers are often as feature-rich as their desktop-based counterparts and, given recent advances in the ability for web applications to provide a valuable user experience when offline as well, will likely continue to lead the way in usage and popularity.īoth types of applications will periodically and automatically access the web server of subscribed news feeds for items that have been added since the last time the user checked. ![]() Webbased feed readers offer the great convenience of allowing users to access up-to-date feeds from any Internet-connected computer. Desktop applications offer the advantages of a potentially richer user interface and of being able to provide some content even when the computer is not connected to the Internet. Aside from these two variants, there is also feed reader functionality available inside other applications such as email programs like Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird. There are essentially two types of feed readers: desktop applications and web (or browser-based) applications. Alternatively right-clicking (or control-click if you're on a Mac) on the RSS icon or text link, selecting Copy Shortcut (Internet Explorer browser) or Copy Link Location (Mozilla Firefox browser) and then pasting the resulting link directly into a feed reader is another way to subscribe. Although some applications will have an automated process to subscribe to a news feed, the basic way to subscribe is by simply clicking on the RSS icon and/or text link. By adding a feed to a feed reader, a user becomes subscribed to the feed. In order to take advantage of these feeds, users require either a desktop-based or web-based application called a “feed reader” or “aggregator” that can read these RSS-formatted files. Websites that have their own RSS feed(s) for notifying users of new syndicated content will usually display a standard icon (in most cases a rounded orange square with white radio waves inside ) and a text link (hyperlink) to their feed's URL (Uniform Resource Locator), a file located on a web server that is written following a particular standard format. ![]()
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