Understanding RSS

RSS is here to stay and in many ways is superior to (1) visiting your favorite websites to see if new content is available and (2) subscribing to content via email. It’s superior to the former because the content comes to you when it is available rather than you having to go to the content only to find nothing there. It’s superior to the latter because it allows for a much richer web-like experience (e.g., embedded audio and video) and puts you in control of the content you receive (there’s no such thing as RSS SPAM!).

In spite of the many advantages to using an RSS reader to subscribe to web content, many are still in the dark about how all of this RSS stuff works.

Here’s a very brief overview followed by some links to helpful resources that go into more detail.

Choosing a Reader

Web-Based Readers

Google Reader is a great choice. If you have a Gmail account (which you should) or use any other Google services that require a login and password, you’ll need only to log in to get started. Bloglines is a good alternative if you don’t like Google.

Browser Readers

Both Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7 have built-in feed readers, and, though I’m a big fan of Firefox, Internet Explorer’s is far better.

Offline Readers

Some may prefer to handle email and feeds in one place and have the option of reading feeds offline. If this is the case, subscribing via Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla’s Thunderbird may be good choices. However, Google just launched Google Gears, which allows applications like Google Reader to go into offline mode.

There are many more options available, but my recommendation is Google Reader.

Subscribing to Feeds

Subscribing to content is fairly easy and can be done in a number of ways. Each feed reader will usually allow you to enter the URL for the site, and it should find the feed for you. If that doesn’t work, you may need to enter the feed URL, which would be something like http://www.pastorblog.com/feed/ or http://feeds.feedburner.com/PastorBlog. You can find this by hovering over the link or icon on the site.

The simplest way is to look for the orange icon in your browser. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer have an icon that will light up if a feed is available. Click it and follow the instructions. Firefox will allow you to set it up to subscribe to your favorite reader by default.

Mine is set up to use Google, so I see this page:

Most sites with feeds available will have this or a similar icon somewhere on the page. If you don’t see it, search for “RSS,” “feed,” or “subscribe.” Clicking on the icon or the text next to it will usually bring you to a page with a variety of subscription options.

If this is all still foreign territory to you, here are some resources that you might find helpful:

• Tim Challies at Challies.com: All About RSS
• Lee LeFever at CommonCraft: Video: RSS in Plain English
• Matt Perman at DesiringGod Blog: A Primer on RSS Feeds

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