What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and is a new way to publish information
online using XML. RSS allows users to subscribe to a website (and even specific
channels within a website; e.g. sport, movies, business) to receive new and updated
content, without being required to revisit the website. Almost all major newspaper
websites provide subscription via RSS.
RSS Feeds can be imagined as a pipe of information. Coming down the pipe is alerts to
new content. It could be just a summary of a new article for example. Depending
on the end users reader, the feed will be displayed differently. i.e. one reader
might just publish a title, while others publish an extract of the article. Each
reader is different, this is discussed later on in this article.
The most common content being published
via RSS is articles, blogs, images, video content, music, podcasts, sporting results,
product listings and much more.
Subcribing to an RSS
RSS gives viewers control over receiving information they want without revealing
information about themselves. Unlike subscribing to an e-mail newsletter, viewers
never have to give out their e-mail address with an RSS feed. That avoids the possibility
of receiving spam or unwanted junk e-mail. It’s one of the reasons RSS is so attractive
RSS Reader
To read an RSS Feed, you’ll need something called a RSS reader. This is a piece
of software that checks the feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been
added. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser,
and some of which are downloadable applications.Many users use online RSS Readers to view their news, often making it their homepage.
These online solutions are:
Offline solution
The RSS readers like Outlook treat an RSS Feed as an account, and the articles are
formatted just like they were emails. In the Browsers they are referred to as “live
bookmarks” (as they update).