What Is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

A new web technology has been appearing recently that allows summaries of websites to be accessed quickly by web browsers, cell phones, and special newsreader programs. This technology is called RSS (Really Simple Syndication), and it is used by sites such as CNN.com to keep people informed about the major announcements posted on the site minute by minute.

Browsers

The easiest way to access such a service is to use a modern web browser and go to a website that offers an RSS feed (such as the home page of this website). The address field at the top of the main page (the field where you type in the address of the page you want to visit) should display a button on the far right. It either looks like an orange rounded square with a few white arcs in it (), or a rectangular button containing the letters RSS () or XML (). These buttons can also appear in the text of a webpage itself. Clicking one of these buttons tells your brower that you want it to access and display the feed. How your browser does this depends on the program you are using, but a common technique is for the browser to create a tab or bookmark that will display the feed contents whenever it is clicked.

Here is an example of how the browser FireFox displays the FP feed. Clicking the tab in the browser toolbar displays the latest data in the feed. Clicking on any item in the list takes the viewer to the FP webpage describing the event in greater detail.

Some browsers show the event descriptions, not just the event titles. Here is how the Safari browser displays the FP feed:

RSS Feed Readers

If your web browser does not recognize the feed or cannot handle it directly, it may fire up another program designated by the browser or the operating system as the preferred RSS feed reader. A list of such programs can be found by following the link provided below. If a favorite reader has not been identified, the browser will usually put up a message saying that the feed/webpage cannot be displayed or that a needed program cannot be found. In that case, download the program you want to use, consult the preferences for your browser or operating system and identify the program as your preferred RSS reader.

To access the feed from a cell phone or a newsreader program independently from a browser, you will need to provide the device or program with the web address of the feed to download. The Folk Project feed address is

    www.folkproject.org/rss/rss.xml

What is the difference between using a newsreader program (sometimes called an aggregator) and a brower to access the feed? Newsreaders are designed to monitor many different feeds at the same time, letting the user know the instant any of them changes. Browsers are generally more laid back, only showing the feeds when the user asks to see them.

More Information

To learn more about newsreader programs for the desktop or cellphones, go to

    http://www.newsonfeeds.com/faq/aggregators

For an in-depth discussion of this technology, see

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29