What is RSS?

By Simonne on Mar 5, 2008 under Blogging

RSS feeds are on everybody’s lips, and every new blogger reads maybe 10-20 times a day that she needs to have one for her blog. But there’s not so much information on what a RSS feed is, how it works and why does anybody with a blog need to offer one.

I actually discovered the term “RSS feed” one day before starting my first blog. Then I was pretty happy to see that my blog template has that little orange box with those white radiations inside, but I didn’t have a clue what it did so good to my readers, nor did I care about it, once I saw it was there.

And this happened because I didn’t know…

How To Read RSS

Reading blogs on a daily basis can be extremely time consuming. But some of them are just nice to read, some others are useful, some others are relaxing… so we just can’t refrain from checking on them day after day, to see if there are any new articles. Of course we can use browser bookmarks, but those cannot be accessed when we are at another computer (when traveling without our own computer, for example).

If all your favorite blogs offer RSS feeds, then you can read them altogether in one single place, which is called a feed reader. This feed reader is actually a web page which displays the latest articles from all the blogs you want, in the same place, provided that you have previously subscribed to their feeds (which I will explain you in a moment how to do). If the blogger you like offers a full RSS feed, it means that his posts will be fully visible in that web page which we call an RSS feed. If he offers only partial RSS feed, it means that you are going to see only the first one-two paragraphs of each post, and you need to actually visit that blog in order to read the rest.

For showing you how it works, I’m going to use Google Reader, but you can find a lot more out there, if you don’t like this one.

After you open a Google Reader account (free of charge), you’ll see a screen like the one below, only it won’t have any subscription links (which we call RSS feeds).

1. By clicking on Add subscription, you’ll be able to add links (RSS feeds) to your feed reader.
2. All RSS feeds you’ve subscribed to are displayed alphabetically, with the number of unread posts indicated nearby each RSS feed.
   The image above shows the RSS feeds grouped by directories. You have the possibility to define folders, name them as you wish, and store your RSS feeds in whatever folder you like. For example, I have a folder which is called Friends, where I keep the RSS feeds of my friends’ blogs. Another folder is called Make money online, and there I store the RSS feeds of blogs which write about making money online, internet marketing, affiliate programs and similar stuff.
3. On the right side of the screen, you have the posts of the current RSS feed. You have two options: to see all posts, or to see only the new ones. You can toggle between the options by clicking the corespondent link in the menu.
4. You see that you can read the content of the blog, you’ll also see the photos in the posts, if any, but you won’t see the layout of the blog, all posts being formatted on the RSS feeds reader template.
5. At the bottom of each post there is a menu which allows you to rate the post with a star (useful for example if you want to keep it for later reference), to share the post with your friends, to send it by email, to mark as read (this you don’t ave to do - it is done automatically by the RSS feed reader when you click on the post’s body). The last option in the bottom menu is Edit tags: if you want to tag the posts in your feed reader, you have this possibility.

This is all you need to know in order to be able to read the RSS feeds you’ve subscribed to. In order to subscribe, whenever you visit a blog you’d like to read again, just look for the specific icon, which is usually orange, but not necessarily, as bloggers are quite creative lately. Anyway, if you look at our header, or at the bottom of this post, I’m sure you’ll be able to spot it at once. Click on it, and you’ll be led to a screen where you’ll need to choose your RSS feed reader which you’ll use to read the feed. If you subscribed with Google Reader, then look for it among the options, select it, then follow the instructions on the screen, which are very clear.

In this way, you’ll be able to see when we publish a new article here, and only then you are going to read us again.

Why Is It Better To Use An RSS Feed Reader For Reading Blogs?

• Because RSS saves you time.
• Because RSS allows you to keep only one browser tab opened for all your favorite blogs, thus speeding up your computer.
• Because many bloggers use RSS feeds to deliver you bonuses which are not accessible from the blog itself. We also do this: if you subscribe to our feed and then go to your feed reader and look at the bottom of any post, you’ll see what’s this about, and you’ll be able to download your bonus.
• Because of the contests organized by so many people for rewarding their feed subscribers? This is not the strongest motivation of all, but we also have such a contest running, so you can still participate.

How Can I Improve The Default RSS Feed My Blog Has?

You can add a lot of functionalities to your RSS feed, from displaying ads in it, to adding a list of related posts, and even to add your personal message to your RSS subscribers, which nobody else would see. Check out how to improve your RSS feed, and you’ll get some ideas.

Another option to read an RSS feed is by using an e-mail client, like Thunderbird. This is good if you want to read the posts offline. In one of our future articles we will describe in detail how to set up Thunderbird for RSS feeds reading.

If you liked this post, please consider to subscribe to RSS feed.
If you want to receive new posts directly to your inbox, you can subscribe by Email.

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