What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It distributes lists
of headlines, update notices, and content right to your desktop without having
to visit a Website. The items will appear on your desktop in an organized
easy-to-read list.
What problem does RSS solve?
There is a tremendous number of websites whose information and content changes regularly. These changes are driven by updates. As new sources of information become available, they are posted. Visiting all the websites you may be interested in to view any new content can be time consuming and very tedious.
In the beginning E-mail made you aware of Web site updates and changes. Unfortunately, when you receive email notifications from many websites they will not be organized and they can get overwhelming. They can also be filtered or be mistaken as spam.
RSS notifies you when content is new or when it has changed. Notifications of changes to many Web sites are well organized and are presented to you.
How do I "RSS" and add an RSS Feed?
To copy a URL, click the RSS button and use your mouse to highlight the URL in the address bar. Right click and select copy from the drop down menu.
Or, click the orange RSS button press "Ctrl-C" on your keyboard to copy the URL.
If you are using a Mac copy the URL by doing a "Control-Click" and choose "Copy Link" from the dropdown menu. |
There are a couple of ways you can set up your feed. One way is to use a browser such as Yahoo or MSN, that have made provisions to accommodate RSS feeds. Another way is to download free RSS Aggregator software. The easiest way to find the free software is to enter "Free RSS Aggregators" into the Search bar of any search engine.
Once you have your RSS feed set up, go to www.AANS.org and find the orange RSS button on the home page. ( it looks like this)
To paste: right click inside of the URL text input
box of the aggregator software and then select "paste" from
the dropdown or "Ctrl-V" if you used keystrokes on your keyboard.
Mac users click inside the text input box and choose Edit then Paste. The URL should appear inside the input text box.
The next step will be to click the Add button or Add Feed button and you are done! |
Here’s the part that will make you feel like a "techy:" The orange RSS button means the Website is setup for an RSS feed. When you
click on the RSS button, it will link you to AANS page containing "mark-up" language. You don’t much care about this page of code, however you will need the URL of this RSS coded page. The URL is the address of this page found in the address bar of your browser. Copy this URL and paste it into the News aggregator software you downloaded or into a Web browser interface that is requesting this information and accommodates RSS feeds like Yahoo at MyYahoo. For detailed help, see the side bar.
Place or paste this URL into the News aggregator software you downloaded or into a Web browser like Yahoo or at MyYahoo or MSN. The browser must be able to accommodate RSS feeds – not all of them do.
That’s basically it. You will have your feed added and you will receive updates as they occur. |
How does RSS work?
A Web site can offer a means to an "RSS Feed". Those who are interested in finding out the latest headlines or changes use this feed. Software called "RSS aggregators" are available that automatically access the RSS feeds of Web sites you are interested in and organize the results for you. Producing an RSS feed is very simple and hundreds of thousands of Web sites now provide this feature.
What information does RSS provide?
RSS provides a list of items presented in order from newest to oldest. Each item usually consists of a simple title describing the item along with a more complete description and a link to a Web page where additional information is located. Sometimes this description is the full information you want to read and sometimes it is just a summary.
The RSS information is placed into a single file on a Web site in a manner similar to normal web pages. However, the information is coded in the XML computer language for use by a program (the RSS aggregator) and not by a person, like a normal Web page is.
RSS aggregator programs
Think of an RSS aggregator as just a web browser for RSS content. RSS aggregators automatically check a series of RSS feeds for new items on an ongoing basis, making it is possible to keep track of changes to multiple Web sites without needing to tediously read and re-read each of the websites yourself. They detect the additions and present them all together to you in a compact and useful manner. If the title and description of an item are of interest, the link can be used to quickly bring the related web page up for reading.
There are many RSS aggregators. Some are accessed through a browser, some are integrated into email programs, and some run as a stand-alone application on your personal computer.
How do I know if a Web site has an RSS feed?
It is getting more popular for websites to have RSS feeds. RSS feeds can be found on the home page or news page of a website and can be represented by an orange button with the letters "RSS" or "XML" on them. Text links can be used for the same purpose and there are variations. The RSS buttons are linked directly to the RSS feed file.
The URL or address of an RSS feed is used with an RSS aggregator program. The aggregator monitors the feed for you. Most RSS aggregators come preconfigured with a list of popular news websites.
Other uses
Besides notifying you about news headlines and changes to Web sites, RSS can be used for many other purposes. Often all the information you need may be in the titles and descriptions themselves.
Some of these are:
- Notification of the arrival of new products
- Listing and notifying you of newsletter issues, including email newsletters
- Notification of additions of new items to a database, or new members to a group
One RSS aggregator is all that you need to read all of the RSS feeds, be they headlines, alerts, changes, or other notifications. RSS has become very popular and is useful means for communicating.
