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RSS - Real Simple Syndication
Recently on the internet, the question "Is RSS dead?" arose. Word on web is that the percentage of people using RSS has decreased. Does this mean it is dead? No. It means that more people need to subjected to exactly what RSS is and how it can be best utilized. For those of you who may have heard the term but never looked into what it may be, it means "really simple syndication." It is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video all aggregated in one place. An RSS document which is called a "feed", includes full or summarized text.
If it still isn't clear, imagine it as an online newspaper customized just for you. By importing the RSS feed URL's of say your favorite YouTube channel, a great blog you read and your favorite sports column, you create your own personalized channel of favorite reads.
If you're wondering how you can do this, it's easy. First you must pick an RSS Reader.
While Google Reader is one of the easiest to use and most popular, there are several others to choose from like Netvibes and Bloglines.
Oftentimes when people first try RSS readers, they do not know how to set it up thus resulting in giving up right away. When importing an RSS feed (url) into the reader, simply copying and pasting the URL of the actual site doesn't always do it (most don't allow that. Google reader does but even then, it doesn't always work.)
When looking for a the RSS URL, simply look the following icon:
When clicking on it, it will usually lead you to a URL that ends in .rss or /feed. This is the URL that is needed to submit into the reader. If this icon is not available or simple text that reads "Subscribe to our RSS feed" or even just "RSS", you can usually find it by doing the following:
No matter what web browser you're using, simply look at the HTML source of your page.
How you view it in your web browser will differ, but in most browsers, you'll choose the Page Source or Source option under the View menu near the top of the window.
Once the window appears with the HTML for your page, use the "Find" feature (typically Ctrl-F on a PC, Command-F on a Mac) and search for "RSS" (without the quotes).
You should be taken to a line that reads something like:
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Example" href="http://www.examiner.com/RSS-1636-Boston-Internet-Examiner">
The RSS feed's URL address is found between the quotes after href= . In this case, it would be:
http://www.examiner.com/RSS-1636-Boston-Internet-Examiner
This may sound complicated but once set up, you can grab your morning coffee, login to your reader and voila! You've got your automatically updated daily newspaper with the items only you want to read.
So is RSS dead? Not as long as you know what it is and see the value in its capabilities.
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