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Getting Started with RSS

Searching for ‘RSS’ at www.versiontracker.com will produce a lengthy list of RSS reader tools. If you're a Windows user then you'll need to cut through the dross: two you sould start with are the relatively simple but clean Jyte and the relatively more feature-rich and complex Abilon.

Mac users are spoiled for choice, but if you have Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) installed you should start with the superb Safari RSS, Apple's RSS-enabled web browser. However, for more serious RSS channel subscription and monitoring, a dedicated reader has more RSS-specific features. NetNewsWire and PulpFiction are two excellent choices.

Mobile phone users have the superb FreeNews, a finely-crafted Java application designed to work on regular mobile phones. Using your phone to grab and read your chosen RSS feeds means you have the latest RSS news and opinions with you at all times!

Most computer-based RSS readers use the standard three-pane interface; one column for channels, another for items from a selected channel, and a third for the description and link from a selected item. Some are more compact than this, presenting a channel’s item headlines in scrolling ticker form and putting the article text into a separate window, but which one suits you really does depend on how you prefer to have your channels presented. Whichever RSS reader you choose, the thing to bear in mind is that these are dedicated data sorting and presentation tools. They are there to help you get the information you want as simply and quickly as possible.

RSS channels can be thought of as similar to magazine or newspaper publications. Each different publication generally covering a particular topic or theme, and it will contain a number of different articles, or items. An item within a channel is presented as a headline, normally with a link and description of its own to give further information and take the reader to a fuller article if they want. Some channels present the entire contents of articles within the RSS feed file itself, but others use this as a way to present the introductions or summaries of articles presented in full in regular web pages.

RSS readers will normally begin by offering a lengthy list of channels covering a very wide range of subjects. Select the ones which interest you, and those will be loaded up, read for you to browse online or offline. This is called ‘subscribing’ to a channel; these will then generally be updated automatically on a regular basis, but you can also refresh them manually to see if new information has been posted recently.

Select one of your subscribed channels and its items’ headlines are listed. From here, a click shows you the descriptive text for any item. You’ll also be able to subscribe to channels manually, so if you see an RSS link on one of your favourite sites you can subscribe by adding that link to your RSS reader.

Next: RSS defined...