An RSS feed is created in a non-HTML format called XML. RSS readers or aggregators can interpret and display that coding, but Web browsers cant. Soon, RSS/XML readers will be part of every browser and e-mail software. But for now, you need a separate reader.
You use an RSS reader to bring new, constantly updated material to you, from all your favorite sites. There is no need to check whether a site has updated.
RSS feeds bring automatically updated information straightto your desktop. You can monitor news, job listings,personals, and classifieds. Thousands of sites now offerfeeds, which you can identify by a small orange button thatsays either RSS or XML. However, if you click one of theselinks, you will most likely get a page full of code in yourbrowser. To properly read the feed, you need an RSS reader.
Content published in an RSS feed is typically set up tosend out notifications whenever new material is available.This makes the new content immediately available to feedreaders and RSS search engines. Contrast this with ordinaryweb pages, which are essentially passive and generallyarent accessible to most of us until search enginecrawlers find and index them. Once indexed, these pagesstand relatively little chance of being read by websearchers on a frequent basis.
Instead of opening your Web browser when you sit down atthe computer, you open your news feed reader, usually a 2-or 3 paned window that allows you to see at a glance whichsites have added content, and to scan clickable headlinesand summaries of that content. Imagine looking at updateinfo on 10-20 sites at a single glance, and never waiting for a single page to load!
RSS Tools You Need
Here is a collection of some of the most popular newsreaders for reading article feeds, news etc
Newsreaders | Aggregators
Win users
1. RssReader (http://www.rssreader.com). Its free!
2. BlogExpress
(http://www.usablelabs.com/productBlogExpress.html)
3. If you want to try several before deciding
(http://www.2rss.com/readers.php)
The most important point about RSS newsreaders is that theyshould be fast and simple to download, install, and startadding feeds. If its not, find one that does.
Mac users
4.NetNewsWire has a free trial and is the best of
a smaller selection.(http://ranchero.com/netnewswire)
5. My Yahoo (http://my.yahoo.com)
6. MSN (http://my.msn.com)
How to Get Started With RSS
Simply right-click on the orange RSS button (control-clickfor Mac users) for each feed that interests you.Select Copy Shortcut ("Copy Link to Clipboard" for Mac;"Copy Link Location" if you use Firefox browser) then pastethat URL into your RSS Reader.
And thats it! Youre subscribed.
(If you prefer, click on the My Yahoo! or My MSN buttons toadd each feed to "Your" Yahoo! or MSN.)
Now you have the ability to quickly scan the sites thatinterest you without being bombarded by unwanted emailmessages.
Read Part 3 of this article:
How to Create an RSS Feed for Your Web Site
About the Author
Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)owner and author of Maryland Web Design, Hosting, Marketing Subscribe to his "Marketing Tips" newsletter for more original in-depth articles at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles