Ever wonder what that orange square with the curvy lines on websites is? It appears on almost every website nowadays, including the one you are reading right now. That orange box signifies an RSS feed, which allows you to subscribe to the content of a website. If you check your favorite websites, blogs, and the news everyday, RSS feeds will allow you to bring all that information together in an organized and practical way. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” because it re-broadcasts information in an extremely easy way. Using RSS feeds will allow you to more efficiently access the content from your favorite websites, all in one place.

Finding Feeds

Most blogs have a feed of their content. Look for the orange logo (above) or a link that says something to the effect of “Subscribe Now!” on their site. Also, websites that have content that is often updated will usually have feeds. Once you have found a website with an RSS feed just click the link to the feed and copy the URL into your favorite feed aggregator. To start off, here is a link to the feed for this blog: http://blog.tatstore.com/feed/.

Choosing an Aggregator

An aggregator is what manages all of the RSS feeds you want to view. When you decide to use RSS feeds, you must first determine how and where you will want to view the content you subscribe to. The major decision here is where you want to read your feeds. You have two major choices: an online program or one that runs from your computer. If you work from only one computer, a desktop application may suit your needs. These programs often give you more control of your feeds, but you can only keep on top of them from one computer. However, if you want access to your reader wherever you are, an online aggregator may be the best solution. This way you can go online to check your feeds, much like you do your email. Today I will discuss two readers from companies that are no strangers to my blog posts, Thunderbird from Mozilla and Google Reader from the Internet giant itself.

Thunderbird, Not just for Email

Thunderbird is most well known as a desktop email client, but it also works with RSS feeds. To add feeds to Thunderbird:

1. Click File->New->Account
2. Select “RSS News & Blogs”
3. Once the account is created, select it, and click “Manage subscriptions”
4. Click “Add”
5. Paste the feed url in the box; click OK
6. Thunderbird will automatically download the posts associated with the feed

Google Reader, a Simple Addition to Your Google Account

By now, almost everyone has created a Google Account to use one of their many Internet products. The Google Reader provides both online and offline access to your collection of RSS and Atom feeds. Once you have setup Google Reader, all you have to do is click “Add Subscription” on the left and paste the URL in the box. I use Google Reader because it is very easy to use and has many user interface shortcuts. For instance, pressing the space bar scrolls down a post, the “j” key skips to the previous post, and the “k” key goes to the next post. Also, GReader has a search feature and the ability to star posts for quick access later.

Try It Out

I suggest just trying RSS feeds out. I find it gives me access to a lot of information that I would otherwise miss in a consolidated form. Also, I can easily skip posts and mark old posts as read to avoid being drowned in unnecessary feeds.

RSS feeds are perfect for experimentation. Find a blog with an intriguing post that you’re curious about, but you’re not sure if you’ll like the other posts? Just add the blog to your feed reader. That way you won’t forget about it if it is good, and you can easily delete it if it turns out to be terrible. Some blogs only post every week or so. If you add the site to a feed reader it’s almost invisible until it has useful content. This keeps you from having to check the site all the time and not getting any new content.

Now that you know what they can do, go out and read some feeds.