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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

What is RSS?


RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. It is a simple way for you to keep track of all of your favorite websites and blogs in one single place. Imagine if you are following say 15 websites including this blog, are you going to come to each of the 15 sites just to see what new post has been posted. It’s so inconvenient, well no longer!

Think of it like a bookmark. In the olden days, we bookmark our favorite sites from our browser and we have to manually check the site for updates. Gone are those days of browser-based bookmarking. With RSS, you could now subscribe to automatically feed all the sites updates into one single place usually into what we call RSS reader. So, RSS makes it possible for you to keep up with your favorite sites in an automated manner through RSS feed.

What is RSS Reader?
It is a piece of software whether web-based or desktop-based that checks your subscribed feeds automatically and download any updates into a single interface for easy viewing. Here I’ve listed a few RSS Readers you can opt to use.

Web-based (Recommended)
1. Google Reader
2. Bloglines

Desktop-based (Windows)
1. BlogExpress
2. FeedReader

and their are others.
Note: If you are using any of the desktop-based RSS Readers, you need to manually set it up with the site feed url, the feed url for this blog is http://feeds.feedburner.com/dotblogger.blogspot.com Note that I’m using a third-party service FeedBurner to help me better manage my feed subscription. Apart from other useful services, Feedburner provides me with the statistics of how many people subscribe to my blog. I wrote an article about Feedburner and if you missed it and care to go and read it just look it up in the older posts it also is a big help in knowing about how FeedBurner works for us.

How to Subscribe to RSS?
They are two ways you can subscribe to RSS.

1. From the browser address bar

If you look up on your browser now, you will see a small orange icon on the right side of your address bar. Click on it and it will bring you to a preview page with an option to subscribe using your choice of reader. It’s really that simple.

2. Right on the site

The other method is to locate the RSS icon or a link that says Subscribe To RSS on the site, usually on the top right, click on it and follow the simple instructions.



Don’t want RSS? Subscribe via Email
If you find that subscribing to RSS is quiet a task to you. You may opt for a more familiar method of subscribing to the updates via your email. Upon subscription, a summary of the latest feed content from your favorite sites will be sent right to your inbox as and when there is an update. All you need to do is to enter your email address to subscribe and you are good to go. Altho I prefer the other method, I do not like all that email in my inbox. I prefer to click on that Orange gaget.

So what now?
OK! If you have not subscribed to this blog, may I suggest the less-hassle & convenience way of keeping up-to-date to what’s new here by subscribing to my RSS just clcik on the readers feed gaget its that orange gaget and thats it.. alternatively you could subscribe via your email. Either way, it works. Thank you.


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