What is RSS?
RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.
Why RSS? Benefits and Reasons for using RSS
RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site‘s email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is growing rapidly and includes big names like Yahoo News.
What do I need to do to read an RSS Feed? RSS Feed Readers and News Aggregators
Feed Reader or News Aggregator software allow you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use.
A variety of RSS Readers are available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers include Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows - integrates with Outlook). There are also a number of web-based feed readers available. My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers.
Once you have your Feed Reader, it is a matter of finding sites that syndicate content and adding their RSS feed to the list of feeds your Feed Reader checks. Many sites display a small icon with the acronyms RSS, XML, or RDF to let you know a feed is available.
WhatIsRSS.com now has a blog ...
We have always wanted to keep this resource brief and to the point, but we realise there is alot more that can be communicated about using RSS. Our RSS Blog was launched 26 July 2007 to extend and complement the information provided here. If you are interested in learning more about RSS go there now and subscribe! It will be updated over time with information on using RSS and will feature tools to help you use RSS in new and better ways.
RSS Links: More information on RSS
RSS Info Comprehensive Overview and Links
Syndic8 - Directory of RSS Feeds
What is RSS, and Why Should You Care?
XML.com: What is RSS?
Introduction to RSS - WebReference.com
RSS Blog Our very own weblog on RSS
Sites with RSS Feeds More RSS Examples. Sites with RSS feeds linking to WhatIsRSS.com