RSS College - RSS-101: What the heck is "RSS"?

It's everywhere.

That cute little orange button (usually orange anyway), with the little dot and curves.

Typically, it's located right next to the site's Facebook and Twitter buttons.

The "Holy Trinity" of social networking

You know the standard Facebook button, and you know what will happen when you click it.  Same for the "T" Twitter button.

But, for some reason, that little orange one?  Still, for a lot of people, it's a mystery.  I know at least 5 people who know of the button, but not what the button does.




Please...allow me to clear up a tiny bit of the mystery for you.  And hopefully introduce you to the wonder of RSS.

(First of all, let me clarify some things.  I am NOT going to explain all the nasty, intricate details of how RSS feeds work.  All I want to do is explain the benefits to you as a web user, as well as you the web provider.)

"RSS" stand for "Real Simple Syndication".  That cute little button of orange-y goodness is the standard RSS feed subscription button.

In a nutshell, it lets you (as a web user) get to someone's content, updates and posts immediately.

In a nutshell, it lets you (as a blogger, or website owner) get your content out to someone immediately.

Let's take an example:

One click for instant website gratification

Part of your browser's set of toolbars has a spot for you to keep links to sites you normally go to a lot.  You could add a link to this website, so when you click it, it will automatically go to the site.  And you can then see what's new.

But the little RSS folder (see the blue RSS-like button in the pic above?) is better.  Click on it and it gives you a little dropdown list of recent activity without actually going to the site!

"So what?" you may be saying.  Well, I'll tell you so what.

• It's faster than actually going to the site.
• It's updated constantly.
• You can find an item, post or article by just looking in the list, rather than going to the site and trying to find it again.
• It saves you tons of time managing your bookmarks.
• It's a quick snapshot of the site, condensing all the good bits into a single little list.
• You don't have to leave your porn site dissertation research site to check out what's going on at your favorite blog watering hole.

Perhaps it would be better if you tried it yourself.  There's nothing like a bit of hands-on experience to see how fantastic it can be for you.

Ready?

We're going to go through all the steps you need to subscribe to someone's RSS feed.  If you have the patience to do 3 things (and by "things" I mean "clicks"), the world is your RSS oyster.

Step 1:  Click the button on the website of your choice.

Step 2: You'll probably get a window similar to this one:

I know...lots of buttons.  Don't be scared.  It'll be all over soon.

This page gives you all the options you have to subscribe to an RSS feed.  Don't worry about anything on this page except for one link:

For us..."View Feed XML" is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now click "View Feed XML".

3.  You'll now get a little window similar to this one:

Just...one...more...click...

See the "Name" field?  That's the name of the site you're subscribing to.

See the dropdown box?  That lets you add the feed link to lots of different places in your browser.

Go ahead and click "Subscribe".

OK...what happened.  Not much, right?

But take a look at your toolbar.  You should see a new, little button there.

Now go ahead...click it.  It's OK...I'll wait a few seconds.

Cool, ain't it.

Another successful graduate of the FHF RSS College of RSS

So, like I said, in a nutshell RSS feeds give you a really neato ability to check blog and site content and updates with not much more than a single click, while still letting you stay on the site you're on.

And now that the brave new world of RSS feeds is open to you, go ahead and set one up for Funky Home Finds.  Don't forget, you can always delete it later (though, I'd really prefer if you didn't).

Remember: Click.  Click.  Click.

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