Having trouble keeping up with new posts on all your favorite web sites and blogs?
Without a feed reader, it’s difficult to stay current on the latest news and post on your favorite web sites, not to mention time consuming navigating into each web site and then clicking around to hunt down new content. Thanks to webmasters dedicated to encoding more web sites with RSS formatted pages, it’s now easier than ever to consume online information. With Really Simple Syndication (RSS), however, the news comes to you. Subscribe only to the sources you want, then filter those results by searching via keywords if you like. A feed reader is the software used to read the feeds people subscribe to. With an RSS feed reader you will save time reading content from hundreds of blogs and web sites from a single interface. Gone are the days of surfing to each site separately.
Feed readers gather new site content from RSS pages and display the article headlines and content for you to read within your reader. Depending on the feed you subscribe to it may be the complete article or just a summary. If the feed is limited to a summary you can always click on the provided title link and you will be directed to the web site article page where you will be able to view the complete post.
Instead of constantly visiting your favorite web sites to find out what’s new, you simply subscribe to them in your RSS reader and new articles come to you automatically. With a reader, every time a web site posts a new article you will be the first to know about it.
How do you know if a web site you like provides an RSS feed?
Just look for the universal RSS orange icon on web sites you would like to follow, click the link and subscribe to it. This will add the feed to your reader, and next time you launch your reader you will see all new content from each of your subscribed web sites, compiled and presented in one place for you to read. Pretty sweet.
If you are wondering, what’s the difference between subscribing to a sites mailing list or subscribing to a sites feed?
Subscribing to a sites RSS feed you remain anonymous, however when you subscribe to a sites mailing list you must provide an email address and often your name. With mailing lists, unsubscribing can sometimes be a challenge and not always effective, but with an RSS feed you have total control and can unsubscribe instantly if you desire. Lastly, the information provided by a sites mailing list will most likely differ from that of a sites RSS feed. So if you really want to follow a particular web site, you would be best off subscribing to both their mailing list and feed.
Where can you get an RSS Feed reader ?
Chances are you already have a feed reader. Microsoft Outlook (2007 and newer) the application you use for email, contacts and calendar, can be used to subscribe to RSS feeds. The feeds will appear in your RSS folder within Outlook similar to mail messages. But for a more enhanced feed reading experience, we recommend one of the readers listed below. They are all free, customizable and easy to use. At the very top of the list is the online Google RSS reader, all you need is a Google Account to activate your reader. Google RSS Reader is a web based aggregator which is capable of reading RSS Feeds online. For those running Windows based computers, FeedDemon is a standalone reader which can be used offline and syncs nicely with Google Reader. FeedDemon comes with tons of features like shortcuts, quick sharing, panic button, tagging, tweeting and more. Using Google Reader along with FeedDemon is our recommendation.
Northern Pride’s Selection Of
Preferred RSS Feed Readers:
- Google RSS Reader – Online web based – OUR #1 CHOICE
- FeedDemon – Windows desktop based – 2nd Runner Up
- NetNewsWire – Macintosh
- Bloglines – Online web based (back from the grave with MerchantCircle)
- Sage – Firefox Addon
These readers make it easy to stay current on your favorite web sites posts and blogs. So simplify your life and be part of the latest trend by using one of the suggested RSS feed readers to follow your favorite web sites.
