What is RSS?

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication," but for some people RSS is anything BUT simple. Therefore, what follows is my attempt at an explanation for the complete RSS novice -- which, according to a survey conducted by Yahoo!, is 88-96% of the web-surfing population. So if you don't know what RSS is or why you should use it, you're in good company!

Before getting into the nitty, gritty of RSS, let's take a conceptual look at why it's cool. How do you get information from the web currently? If you're like most people, you probably visit all of the web sites you're interested in. That certainly works, but after a while it gets tedious because you have to take the time to go to each and every one of those sites. It's rather like grocery shopping: Do you want to have to go to a butcher for your meat, then to a bakery for your bread, then to a dairy for your milk, cheese, and eggs? Probably not. If you're like most people, you want to go to the supermarket so that you can get everything you need all at once. Getting your information site by site is like going to the individual shops. Getting your information through RSS is like going to the supermarket.

I'm Convinced RSS is for Me! How Do I Sign Up?

In order to "sign up," you "subscribe." More specifically, you subscribe to RSS "feeds." A feed is just a list of the articles available at a given site. So "subscribing" to a site's "feed" means that you automatically get new articles delivered to you without your having to go to that site.

In order to subscribe to feeds, you need what's called a "reader" or an "aggregator" -- two terms for the same creature. Your reader/aggregator will become your one-stop information shop. You have a number of options to choose from, most of which are free. Some readers/aggregator's are web-based. In other words, you go to a single web page and that page will show you all of the new articles from all of the sites you care about. Other readers/aggregators are products you download and install on your computer. Examples of the latter include intraVnews for Microsoft Outlook; of the former, I particularly like NetVibes and My Yahoo. If you're thinking, "Hey, I already use My Yahoo," then I have some good news for you: You already have a reader/aggregator.

intraVnews, Netvibes, and My Yahoo are just a few of the many options available to you. There's a pretty comprehensive list available at allrss.com. That said, if you are completely new to RSS, my suggestion is to start with My Yahoo or -- if you live your life in Microsoft Outlook -- intraVnews. Then once you're comfortable with RSS, consider exploring the other possibilities so that you can find the reader/aggregator that's right for you.

Regardless of the reader/aggregator you choose, the general process of subscribing to feeds is the same: You have to give the URL of the feed to your reader/aggregator. This, of course, means you need to find that URL. Unfortunately, the URL for the feed is NOT the URL for the site. For instance, to subscribe to my feed, do NOT use http://blog.grain-of-salt.com. That's the URL for viewing articles here. The URL for the feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/GrainOfSalt. So how are you supposed to figure that out? Well, it depends on the site. But a site with an RSS feed will likely have a little orange graphic somewhere on its home page. That graphic might say "RSS" or "XML," or it may just be a symbol.

When you find a graphic like that, it's a link to the feed. What you get when you click on that graphic may be an easy to read site, like this one, or it may look something like:

I suspect that one day clicking on such a link will automatically subscribe you to the feed. But we're not there yet, at least not quite. More about this in a bit. In the meantime, the link associated with the little orange graphic is what you need to give to your reader/aggregator. You can get this link in a couple of ways: If you've already clicked on the graphic and are looking at the feed, the URL should be in your address bar.

All you have to do is highlight it and then copy it to the clipboard.

If you haven't already clicked on the orange graphic, you can right-click on it instead and then choose "Copy link location" (if you use Firefox) or "Copy shortcut" (if you use Internet Explorer). I'm afraid I haven't looked in the menus of all of the other browsers, but you are looking for something that sounds like it will let you copy the URL. If you can't find such a thing, just click on the graphic and then get the URL out of the Address Bar.

Once you have copied the URL of the feed, you need to figure out where to paste it. This depends on the reader/aggregator you are using. In My Yahoo, I click on "Add Content" and then on "Add RSS by URL". In intraVnews, I click on the "Subscriptions" button that's in the toolbar in Outlook. Then I click on the Subscriptions menu and choose "Subscribe to Feed". If you use a different aggregator, you'll of course do something different, but the keywords you are looking for will be the same: RSS, Subscribe, Feed, URL, etc.

Having given the URL of the feed to your reader/aggregator, you are subscribed. From now on, any time a new article appears on the site whose feed you just subscribed to, it will show up in your reader/aggregator. No more need to go to that site to see what's there because that site will come to you!

One-Click Subscription

Earlier I stated that one day you'll likely be able to just click on a little graphic and get subscribed automatically. While that day is not here yet, it is getting a lot closer. On some sites you will find subscription buttons like these:

If you see such a button for the aggregator you use, you can click on it to subscribe and not have to hassle with copying and pasting feed URLs.

So Where Can I Find Feeds that Interest Me?

Because more and more sites have RSS feeds, just look around on the home pages of your favorite sites. You should be able to find at least a few starter feeds that way. Also look in your aggregator: Many have sample feeds or recommendations. And if you want even more feeds, take a look at the "blogrolls" of your favorite bloggers. Blogrolls are rather like endorsements: They tell you what that blogger is reading -- or at least thinks is worth reading. If you look on the right-hand side on the main page of my blog, you'll see a list of the feeds I subscribe to. Most bloggers have such blogrolls. Follow the links, read what's there, and if you like what you find, look for the little orange graphic.

Parting Words

The last thing I want to tell you is that your mileage will vary. Some feeds have a huge number of articles; others do not. Some feeds contain summaries only and expect you to go to the site for the full article; other feeds contain full articles. Some aggregators lump all articles together like a newspaper; others arrange them by feed. Some let you synchronize among multiple computers; others do not. Etc., etc., etc. Not to worry. Start with an aggregator and some initial feeds. Unsubscribe to the ones that don't work out for you, and try to find some others that do. After reading your feeds for a while, consider what is right about -- as well as what is lacking in -- your current aggregator. If you find a lot lacking, look for a different one that better suits your personal needs. Like I said before, you have many options. Eventually I think you'll find that RSS is a great tool, and you may even wonder how you had gotten along without it.

Happy reading!