What Is RSS All About?

I really wondered "What is RSS?", when I started blogging and I never knew what impact, it had on my blog. I just installed in my blog because I found the same in all other blogs. Now, it has been a year since I entered this blogging world and I got to know a little about this RSS which I want to share with my readers. To be very simple, it is another method for the readers to keep track of your blog. RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication", a technology that websites use to distribute their content.

I am sure many of them use bookmarks to keep track of their favorite sites, that is checking those sites everyday or may be on a regular basis for new content. Instead, you can subscribe to each site's RSS feed and you will be informed automatically by your RSS Reader, once there is a new content added on that site. I have used two new terms "RSS feed" and "RSS Reader". What is this crap??? Wait... Relax with a coffee. Let me explain that to you.

Websites that use the technology of RSS create special files, called "feeds". As mentioned earlier, these files are designed in such a way that they are updated periodically to contain the latest information about the site. A RSS reader is simply like a software, in other words, an application to view the RSS feeds. There are two types of RSS readers available, namely, Web Readers and Desktop readers. The former one is the most preferred, because you can store your feeds on the internet rather than on your hard drive. Some of the popular and free RSS readers are: Google Reader, FeedDemon, Bloglines, etc... I prefer Google Reader because, it is simple to use.

Fine. I got my RSS reader. Now, what do I do? Simply, subscribe to the RSS feed of all your favorite websites. Now, how do I do this? Few sites mention "Subscribe Via RSS" or provide an icon, (something like the one, I should on top of this post) some where in the site for their readers to subscribe via RSS. While few browsers, like Fire Fox have got this option in built, that is, you can click on the icon displayed on the right end of the location bar to subscribe to them. Feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed too.

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Rich Bitch said on August 27, 2009 at 9:31 AM :

I am a newbie blogger and your site helped me a lot. Very informative. I always wondered about what RSS is. Check out my blog if you have a sec.

http://richbitchinhollywood.blogspot.com/

Amy said on August 27, 2009 at 1:54 PM :

I have been dealing with this very issue today! How do I go about finding the code to my "RSS feed"? I would like to offer it my blog. Also, please take a look at my blog and see what I can do to improve. Thanks!

kara said on August 27, 2009 at 5:43 PM :

haha! i liked the coffee. to be honest, i didn't give a damn about RSS too, i just put it on my site and that's it.. it's nice to read about blogs like yours... helps me uncover my ignorance.

Mukund said on August 27, 2009 at 5:58 PM :

@Rich Bitch: Hey there!! I am not able to view your blog. It says the blog has been removed. So, check out the problem and then tell me.

Mukund said on August 27, 2009 at 6:04 PM :

@Amy: Just sign up with Google FeedBurner and get your RSS feed. More over, I had a thorough look at your blog and I felt there is nothing much to improve other than your Alexa rank and Google page rank because you have done enough modifications to it and aligned all widgets to a good extent.

Kumaran said on March 9, 2010 at 2:50 PM :

Hi , It is a good article.........
and I accept your points....But I wanna share on major point is about RSS that it will be used as "OFFLINE reading" purpose.....I mean I know how to use the RSS as Offline reading purpose..... and I am going post that trick(RSS offline) on my blog @ http://softwareprogrammingtutor.blogspot.com/ .. then put your comments on blog.....

Kumaran said on November 12, 2010 at 4:01 PM :

Rich Bitch said on November 12, 2010 at 4:01 PM :

Use the tab below to comment. No spam please!!!

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