RSS, The Web's Most Underutilized Time Saver

Part of being a good user and consumer is understanding how technology works, why we use it the way we do, and what the barrage of acronyms and PR jargon means. We're here to help you make sense of it all and give you a better appreciation for how that pile of transistors, pixels, and antennas works together to deliver the conveniences of the modern world to your living room or office.

What is RSS?

RSS, most commonly expanded to "Really Simple Syndication", is a way for frequently updated Web sites to publish content so it can easily be repeated and aggregated around the Web. These feeds, as they're called, are most often associated with news sites and blogs, but almost every Web site offers them. RSS, along with its close cousin Atom, strips out many elements of a Web site and leaves only the text, images and, in some cases, the audio or video associated with an article. It uses the XML markup language, a document formatting standard used not only in Web pages, but in office documents like those of Office 2007, Open Office, and iWork. This makes it a lightweight way to pass around content

So what can I use RSS for?

Its primary function is to offer quick updates from news sites and blogs. With an RSS reader or aggregator, you can pull all of these sources together, so that reading Switched, the New York Times, Engadget, and the BBC can be a one-stop affair. But RSS isn't limited to news updates. More advanced users can pull in messages from Gmail, updates to Wikipedia pages, and changes to files in Dropbox via RSS. And that's still just scratching the surface of its potential.

How do I find RSS feeds?

Discovering which of your favorite sites offer RSS feeds is as simple as glancing at the address bar of your Browser. Opera, Firefox, and Internet Explorer all use a standard notification icon -- an orange box with "radio" waves -- to indicate the presence of a feed. Clicking on this icon will present you with options for how to subscribe to updates. For some reason, Chrome does not have built-in RSS notification or handling, but the RSS Subscription Extension adds these features.

Alternately many feed readers or RSS aggregators can automatically find RSS feeds if you point them to the URL for a Web site. For example if you click the "add subscription" button in Google Reader and search for CNN, it will pull up all of the RSS feeds associate with the CNN Web site.

How do I read them?

The most common way to read RSS feeds is in a feed reader or aggregator. These applications can pull in many feeds and allow you to view them all at once for a borderless view of the Web, individually, or neatly arranged into categories. One of the most popular readers, and the one we recommend for both beginners and advanced users is Google Reader. Reader offers an ease of use that should appeal to new comers (and a handy "Getting Started" guide) as well as keyboard shortcuts, reading stats, and exhaustive organization features that will appeal to RSS pros. Best of all, since it's a Web app you can access it from any PC or mobile device. RSS Owl and the NewsGator family of products (NetNewsWire and FeedDemon) also offer compelling options for those who are more comfortable with a desktop app.

For those just looking to get their toes wet with one or two RSS feeds personalized start pages like iGoogle, Netvibes, and My Yahoo! offer an easy way to try out streams of information from just a few news sources at a time.

Why is it so great?

There is no faster way to peruse the Web than via RSS. A feed reader can help you breeze through an entire day's worth of headlines in just a couple of minutes. In many cases, you can even read the entire content of an article without leaving the comfort of your aggregator of choice. (If you're not sure where to start when picking an aggregator, check out this comparison of apps from Wikipedia, although it is missing Google Reader, upon which we rely every day at Switched.) RSS feeds present content in an easy-to-read "river-of-news" view that removes the need to navigate the different sections of a Web site.

Just be careful to avoid information overload. It's easy to go nuts and fill your reader with dozens, or even hundreds, of feeds that you may never read. Also know that you may not be able to view complete articles from all sites via RSS. Some outlets offer only headlines or summaries to ensure you still visit their page so they can collect advertising revenue.

If you're not taking advantage of RSS, then you're not making the most of your Internet browsing time. With these new extra minutes or hours, you could go outside and get some fresh air, go to the gym, or, more realistically, read more Web sites.

Tags: atom, features, inanutshell, RSS, top