What is RSS?

Q: What is RSS anyway? I think I understand it, but I'm not sure. Also, how do I subscribe to an RSS feed and why would I want to?

A: Great questions. Let me explain...

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it's basically a computer-readable summary of the content of a Web page. This summary might be just the headlines of the articles on the page, the headlines plus a sentence or two excerpt of the articles, or even the headlines plus the entire articles. These are known as "headline only", "headline + excerpt" and "full text" feeds, respectively.

Typically, you recognize an RSS feed because there's a cute little orange or blue button labeled "XML", "RDF" or "RSS", like the ones in the top left corner.

(For actually getting the link, right-click the icon, then choose "Copy Link).

The differences between them, whether they are called RSS, XML, or whatever, can be ignored, for all practical reasons: If you see any of these options, or a text link labeled "subscribe to my RSS feed", then you are looking at an RSS-enabled Web site and/or a way to tap into the site's RSS feed.

The real benefit of subscribing to an RSS feed from a site is that you no longer need to visit the site itself to stay up-to-date on what's being discussed, or what new or updated articles are being published.

Just subscribe to the RSS feed, and your RSS Reader will do all the work, showing you only what's new since the last time you've checked the RSS feed. And that's the real value of RSS: to be able to stay current with dozens or even hundreds of Web sites, quickly and efficiently.

How go you get access to this new and fascinating way of updating yourself?

You need a program that knows how to both read and keep track of your favorite RSS feeds. This is called an RSS Reader, or an RSS Aggregator.

There are a ton of different options for RSS Readers, ranging from standalone applications to plug-ins for popular email programs like Microsoft Outlook, to plug-ins for Web browsers like Firefox. Apple's latest Safari browser for Mac OS X Tiger includes an RSS reader too, for example.

Also, if you have a My Yahoo! or a My MSN account, you can use it to receive RSS feeds.

My Yahoo! and My MSN are free, and they are of course web-based, so you get access to them everywhere.

Another RSS reader is also Web-based, the free Newsgator Online. There are a number of reasons why I prefer a Web-based reader, but the main one is that I can stay up-to-date on all RSS feeds that interest me from any Web browser, anywhere, even an Internet café or borrowed laptop. It's also elegant, fast, simple, and easy to master. And it's free, too!

For a very good, client-side RSS feeder, check out BlogExpress. Free download, and VERY easy to use. Very good introduction to RSS as well.

Just set up a free subscription on one (or more) of these places, read up on RSS, and subscribe to my RSS. It's as simple as that: Instant news and update alerts directly to your PC, wherever you are!

How do you do it?

Right-click on the RSS icon in the upper left corner of this page "Copy link". Then start your RSS reader, create a new feed, and simply paste the link into it. That's all there is to it!

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