Blog #6 RSS

So what is RSS? RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and “is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs.” Once the written information about each subject or item is in RSS format, a RSS program can confirm the feed for changes and respond to the changes in an appropriate way. The RSS programs are called news aggregators and can aid you in keeping up with your favorite weblogs by checking their RSS feeds and showing the new content; thus, many internet blogs make their content available in RSS so their readers can be updated easily.
What Is RSS?

Since RSS is a useful tool that web users use to keep track of their favorite websites, the bookmarking method, “where you had to ‘bookmark’ websites in your browser and manually return to them on a regular basis to see what had been added,” is outdated because the web surfer has to do most of the work, it’s gets too complicated trying to track too many websites at once, and it’s also easy to miss information because the web surfers can forget to check their bookmarks.
Bookmarking

So how do you use RSS? The first step is to get yourself a RSS Feed Reader. There are many feed readers but a good place to start is with a free and easy to use web based ones like Google Reader and Bloglines. The quickest way to learn how to use Google Reader or Bloglines is to subscribe to some feeds and try it out where they both have useful help sections to get you ready and running.
How to Use RSS

Once you have a firm understanding on how to use RSS here is a list of RSS Resources:
Windows RSS Readers
OS X RSS Readers
Linux RSS Readers
Web-based RSS Readers
Mobile RSS Readers
RSS-to-email tools
Feed Validators
RSS-related Firefox plugins
RSS plugins for WordPress
RSS Managers
Tools for combining or mixing RSS feeds
RSS ping tools
RSS feed directories
List of RSS Resources