What is RSS? RSS feeds from Which?
What are RSS feeds?
RSS feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and video in one place, as soon as it’s published, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from.
There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but most people plump for 'Really Simple Syndication'. In essence, the feeds themselves are just web pages, designed to be read by computers rather than people.
Keeping tabs on your favourite websites can be a chore as your list of must-visits keeps growing. What's more, it's a waste of time visiting each website, only to discover there's nothing new to read.
Feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content, it’s therefore easy to keep track of the latest news as soon as it’s published without even visiting the website concerned.
If the website supports RSS, you can access its latest articles, normally in the form of headlines and news summaries, delivered to your computer screen via a news reader.
How do I start using feeds?
To get started, you'll either need to sign up to a web-based news reader (which can be accessed from your normal web browser, such as Internet Explorer), or download suitable software. This software checks the feed and lets you read any articles that have been added.
There are many different news readers available, some are accessed using a browser, and some are downloadable applications. Browser-based news readers let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from any computer.
Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want it to receive.
Most regularly updated websites now have a feed available. The feed is a file that tells a news reader about the site's articles and where to find them. You can tell if a site has a feed by looking for a distinctive 'RSS' or 'XML' logo or link.
By clicking on the RSS button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including dragging the URL of the feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader.
Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites.
You can build up a list of favourite feeds, you'll soon see the latest stories from multiple websites - from The Times (www.thetimes.co.uk) to Jamie Oliver's diary (www.jamieoliver.com) - direct from your news reader. To read the whole article, you simply have to click the headline and you will be transported to the actual website.
How do I get a news reader?
There is a range of different news readers available and new versions are appearing all the time, you can find out more by reading our news readers advice guide.
Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer.
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