GLPease enters the 21st Century, and offers an RSS feed...

What Exactly Is RSS, and Why Do I Want It?

Sometimes, it seems there are more pages on the web than grains of sand on the collective beaches of the world, and more are sprouting every day. It becomes increasingly challenging to keep up with what's new, and without some sort of automagic method, we can easily lose track. RSS, which stands for “Really Simple Syndication,” is an attempt to remedy this by providing a subscribable “News Feed.” Once you subscribe to the feed, you'll be kept abreast of the things the author of the feed things you might want to know about. The headlines will be delivered right to your reader, and you can choose to read the rest of the article or not. Pretty spiffy, eh? But, how do you use it? It's a great way to keep up with things without having to check a bunch of different sites every day.

To use RSS, the first thing you'll need is an RSS News Reader, sometimes called a News Aggregator. Some web applications, like Apple's Safari browser and Mozilla's Thunderird mail client, have built in support for RSS feeds. You can also use a stand-alone application, like NetNewsWire (Mac OSX only), or an on-line service, such as NewsGator. [Please, do not email me for detailed instructions about setting up your reader. I'm just giving you the basics, here! -glp]

Once you have decided on how you want to receive your news, you simply need to subscribe to the feeds that interest you. Often, you may see a button like this one (which actualy works, by the way, and subscribes to my News feed):

Or this one (which will subscribe to the Briar & Leaf Chronicles):

This is basically just a link to the page that will provide the RSS content. Technically, an RSS feed is just a type of XML page, and if your browser is equiped to handle it, clicking on the button will do the trick. If not, you may be able to configure a “Helper Application”, your RSS reader, to automatically launch when you click on a page of this type. If all else fails, you can enter the URL of the feed manually into your RSS reader of choice. (Mine is http://www.glpease.com/RSS/GLPNews.rss)

How do I get an RSS Reader?

There are quite a few choices of RSS readers, with new versions appearing frequently. You'll have to do a little searching to find the one that's right for you and your OS. The following table, ruthlessly swiped, shows a few of the more popular applications.

Popular RSS Readers

For Windows

For Mac OS

On the Web

Safari

Google Search for others...

So, this should whet your appetite and get you started with this useful feature of the net. I'll be publishing things on my feed as they come up - certainly not daily - and it'll be a simpler way to keep on top of the goings on in my little corner of the world, without the chore of visiting the site daily to see if anything has changed.

Smoke in peace,
-glp