RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a simple, standardized method of content distribution that helps you stay up to date on your favorite newscasts, blogs, websites, and social media channels. Instead of visiting the site to find new posts or subscribing to the site to receive notifications of new posts, look for RSS feeds on the site and read new posts in an RSS reader.
RSS is a way for website authors to publish notifications of new content on their sites. This content may include news broadcasts, blog posts, weather reports and podcasts.
To post these notifications, the site author creates a text file with an XML file extension for the RSS feed that contains the title, description, and link for each post on the site. The site author then uses this XML file to add RSS feeds to web pages on the site. XML files automatically syndicate new content from this RSS feed in a standard format that can be displayed in any RSS reader.
When website visitors subscribe to this RSS feed, they read new website content in an RSS reader. These RSS readers collect content from multiple XML files, organize the information, and display the content in a single application.
There's a lot you can do with RSS feeds and RSS readers. Here are just a few examples:
- Follow discussions on web pages and forums without visiting each page to read the list of posted comments.
- Stay up to date on delicious food offerings from your favorite bloggers and share recipes with your friends.
- Stay up to date with local, national and international news from multiple sources.
RSS feeds consolidate information sources into one place and provide updates when new content is added to the site. With social media, all you see are the favorite content people have shared. Through RSS feeds, you can see all the content published by the website.
To find RSS feeds on a website, look at the website's home page. Some websites display their RSS feeds as orange buttons, which may contain the abbreviations RSS or XML.
Not all RSS icons look the same. RSS icons come in different sizes and colors. Not all of these icons contain the abbreviations RSS or XML. Some websites use Syndicate This links or other types of links to indicate RSS feeds.
Some websites provide lists of RSS feeds. These lists may include different topics from a wide range of websites, or list feeds from many websites that cover similar topics.
When you find an RSS feed that sounds interesting, click the RSS icon or link to display the XML file that controls the website feed. You will use this RSS link to subscribe to the feed in an RSS reader.
If your site is powered by WordPress, add /feed/ to the end of your site's URL (for example, www.example.com/feed/ ) to view the RSS feed.
If you don't see the RSS icon or link, check the page source for the web page. Here's how to view the page source and get RSS links in Chrome.
Open a web browser and go to a web page.
Right-click the web page and select View page source .
Select Settings > Find .
Enter RSS and press Enter .
RSS instances are highlighted in the page source code.
Right-click the RSS feed URL and select Copy link address .
Use this URL to subscribe to the RSS feed in your RSS reader.
Think of an RSS reader as your email inbox. When you subscribe to a website's RSS feed, the RSS reader displays the website's content. View the content using an RSS reader, or visit the website. As you read each new piece of content, the RSS reader marks the content as read.
There are many RSS readers. If you prefer reading blogs and news articles in your web browser, choose a free online RSS reader. If you'd rather read RSS feeds within an application, explore different free Windows RSS feed readers and news aggregators.
Feedly is a popular RSS reader. Feedly is a cloud-based RSS reader available on multiple platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows, Chrome, and other web browsers. It also works with third-party applications. Getting started with Feedly is easy.
To subscribe to RSS feeds in Feedly on your desktop:
Copy the URL of the RSS feed.
Paste the URL into the Feedly search box and select the RSS feed from the feed list.
Choose to follow .
Select new feed .
Enter a descriptive name for the feed.
Select Create .
In the left pane, select an RSS feed.
Choose what you want to read.
To save content to read later, hover over the bookmark icon (read later) or star (save to board).
In March 1999, Netscape created RDF Site Summary, the first version of RSS. Web publishers used it to display their website content on My.Netscape.com and other early RSS portals.
A few months later, Netscape simplified the technology and renamed it Rich Site Summary. Shortly after AOL took over Netscape and reorganized the company, Netscape withdrew from RSS development.
A new version of RSS was released in 2002, and the technology was renamed Really Simple Syndicate. With this new version and the creation of the RSS icon for the Mozilla Firefox web browser in 2004, RSS feeds became more accessible to Web visitors.
