Path: Welcome > Welcome > Misc > About RSS
About RSS
RSS sounds like some nasty disease you catch if you use a computer for too long at a time, but no, RSS feeds are actually a Good Thing.
It's short for “Rich Site Summary” or “Really Simple Syndication” (depending on whom you ask). The whole thing is based on a very simple concept indeed. A website publishes a concise list of new or changed material, with links to the actual web pages: that's the feed bit. This list is then read and digested and displayed by some web browsers (or other RSS enabled applications). This in turn makes it possible for you to see at a glance what's new or has changed on the site and whether that change might interest you or not: no need to actually go there and click through zillions of pages.
Another way to view RSS is as bookmarks on steroids: for instance, the Firefox browser (that's the one I normally use) shows an RSS feed as if it were a list of bookmarks: you get a menu of headlines (normally 15), simply click on what catches your eye and, presto, you're there.
Try it: it's convenient and a big time saver… and we can never have enough time, of course. If your current browser doesn't support RSS right out of the box, either get a decent browser or even dedicated RSS reader software like Abilon or Awasu. Or use a web-based aggregator service like NewsGator.
- Some general remarks about RSS, from the horse's mouth, as it were: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3223484.stm
- More about RSS and reader software in general: http://www.ourpla.net/cgi-bin/pikie.cgi?RssReaders
- A comprehensive list of freeware RSS readers: http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/misctools/fwrssreaders.html
$updated from: About RSS.htxt Thu 27 Apr 2017 10:06:48 thomasl (By Thomas Lauer)$