What is RSS?

Here's a brief overview...

What is RSS?

RSS is a format for delivering frequently updated web content. Many news-related sites, blogs and other online publishers syndicate their content by providing an RSS feed to whoever wants it.

Why use RSS feeds?

RSS feeds allow you have the latest content from the sites you are interested in delivered directly to you. This saves you time, as it means that you don't need to visit each site individually to obtain this information. It also ensures that you receive content from each site as soon as it is published, keeping you up-to-date with the latest developments.

What do I need to do to read RSS feeds?

To read RSS feeds you need an RSS feed reader (aka an "RSS reader", "news reader", "feed aggregator", "RSS aggregator" or "news aggregator"). These applications allow you to grab the RSS feeds from your favourite websites and then display them for you to read and use.

There are two main types of feed reader - those you install on your computer and those you access via the web. Which type should you go for? Well, the decision pretty much boils down to this: If you want to read feeds offline, you should choose a feed reader that you can install on your computer; whereas if you are content to read feeds online (i.e. only when you have an internet connection), you should go with a web-based version.

Popular computer-based feed readers include FeedReader (for Windows) and NetNewsWire (for Mac). Before you purchase/download one of these applications however, it is worth making sure that you don't already have a feed reader installed on your computer. The latest versions of browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari have built-in RSS-reading capabilities - as do recent versions of email clients like Microsoft Outlook and Apple Mail - so there's a fair chance that you already have something that will do the trick.

Popular web-based feed readers include My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader.

Once you have a feed reader in place, it is then a matter of finding sites that syndicate their content and adding their RSS feed to the list of feeds that your feed reader is signed up to receive. (Many sites display a small orange-coloured RSS badge/icon to let you know that a feed is available).

How do I subscribe to the Etre Touchy RSS feed?

That's easy! Click here and follow the instructions.