RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds? A Feedreader?!

What is a feed? A feed is a web document that usually ends in .xml or .rss and it is a slimmed-down version of a website that is created to be easily syndicated. It may be represented by an orange icon.

What does it cost? It’s free. And no personal information is exchanged.

What is a feed reader? A feed reader is an application, stand alone or web based, that reads feeds. A feed reader is to feeds what an email application is to email.

How do I unsubscribe from a feed? Just delete the feed from your feed reader. You may need to see your feed readers help files for specific information.

How do I know when a feed is updated? All feed readers update periodically. You may have to push an update button, or it may happen when you load the page or open the feed reader. When updating, the feed reader will go out and check for updated information for you. If there is anything new, the feed reader will alert you; usually bolding new information.

Why is this good? A feed reader can check all your feeds in seconds for updates without you ever having to visit the websites. 5 or 500 feeds, it doesn’t matter. It’ll do all the work much faster than you can surf to the website to check manually. This will help you stay up to date with many different sites.