What is RSS?
By CleverSage | January 29, 2008
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a way for a blog or website to tell anyone who has subscribed to your RSS feed, that you have updated or published new information. Unlike bookmarks where you have to visit sites and blogs to see any new information, an RSS feed allows a blog to distribute and “push” information to multiple online outlets, allowing people to visit only the posts or pages that interest them.
Why RSS?
The flexibility of RSS to deliver up-to-date information in real-time to people viewing a feed, and the ability to integrate these feeds into applications, is what makes RSS such a popular and outstanding tool of any website or blog.
Subscribing to an RSS Feed
RSS allows you to “subscribe” to a blog or website that has an RSS feed on their site. It is very similar to bookmarking but instead of just displaying a title, you are able to view the most recent posts or pages.
When you see something similar to this button on a page or in your browser you can subscribe to a feed.
RSS Subscription Options
In addition to a general subscription to a blog or site, you can also subscribe to just sections or categories, comments, posts, pages or however many RSS sections that a site has categorized. For those of you unaccustomed to using bookmarks or reading RSS feeds, there is also the ability to subscribe via email.
RSS Readers
You can subscribe to an RSS feed numerous different ways by cutting, dragging, clicking or pasting into an RSS reader. Many browsers (Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc.) have now built this feature into their systems. Along with browser-enabled RSS subscription options, you can also subscribe via desktop solutions, web-based solutions and mobile devices and various other mediums.
Topics: Blogging |