What is RSS?

RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication, depending on who you want to believe) or news feeds, or feeds, is a way of keeping up to date with a web site that delivers regularly updated content. Most news sites and blogs have an RSS feed to which you can subscribe.

Why Use RSS?

RSS allows you to easily retrieve the latest content from the web sites that you are interested in. You can save a lot of time by not having to visit all the sites individually. It's also easy to see which sites have been recently updated.

How do I get started?

You'll need an RSS Feed Reader. These come in two main varieties: downloadable applications that you install on your computer and allow you to store them locally; and web based feed readers which allow you to access your feeds from any internet connected machine. Think of it like the difference between using Outlook and Hotmail for email.

Got Any Recommendations as to What I Should Use?

Of course! For Windows machines, FeedReader, Newsgator or Attensa are good, and Newsgator and Attensa integrate with Outlook. On the web, My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular but my particular favourite is Netvibes.

If you are using Internet Explorer 7+ or Firefox 2+, they have have RSS functionality built in, but I find them not as versatile as the web based feed readers.

I've Got My RSS Feed Reader: What Now?

Start adding feeds from sites that you are interested in. The latest web browsers tend to highlight sites that have available feeds by placing this icon in the address bar, and there may be other links with this logo on the site as well. The feed reader you choose will tell you how to easily add sites to your list of feeds.

Anything Else?

Well, if you're interested in the Geospatial world, here's a couple of my Netvibes pages that may get you off to a good start ...