Need Help with Feeds?

What is an XML Feed such as RSS or Atom?

Web sites publish new content on a regular basis and provide a list of news headline links to their latest content. Wouldn't it be better to have the latest content and features delivered directly to you, rather than clicking from site to site? Well now you can, thanks to XML Feeds such as RSS and Atom.

RSS?

RSS is a family of XML file formats for web syndication used by news websites and weblogs. The acronym stands for one of the following standards:

  • Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)

  • RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9, 1.0 and 1.1)

  • Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)

RSS provides short descriptions of web content together with links to the full versions of the content. This information is delivered as an XML file called RSS feed, webfeed, RSS stream, or RSS channel. In addition to facilitating syndication, RSS allows a website's frequent readers to track updates on the site using a news aggregator.

Atom?

Atom is a simple way to read and write information on the web, allowing you to easily keep track of more sites in less time, and to seamlessly share your words and ideas by publishing to the web.

How do I use an XML feed such as RSS or Atom?

XML news feeds can be read by a variety of desktop newsreaders. Follow the following steps:

  1. Get a desktop newsreader that will read RSS or Atom feeds.

  2. Look for the RSS or Atom logo, clicking on it will take you to the news feed for that particular page.

  3. Then you can add the URL into your RSS or Atom newsreader.