What is an RSS feed?
RSS (“Really Simple Syndication”) feeds are an alternative way of obtaining the content of a webpage. Feeds pull the content of a page, or a site, each time it is updated, into special software called a reader or aggregator.
Many sites on the web now provide RSS feeds, including news sites such as the Chronicle of Higher Education, BBC News and CNN, some scholarly journals and many weblogs.
If you read a lot of blogs, or a lot of news-based websites, feeds can save you time by gathering in one location, your aggregator, all the updated information. You then don’t need to visit each site individually.
How to use RSS feeds
If you were to see an RSS feed, you would only see XML coding. The aggregator is what permits you to see the content properly. RSS is only one of the protocols for creating feeds; others are RDF and ATOM. On websites, they are often symbolized with a little orange rectangle marked “XML”, “RSS”, “ATOM” or “FEED” on them.
There are three main categories of aggregators. (please note that we are unable to provide technical support for any of these products and services):
- Some web browsers (eg Firefox and Opera) have ways of using RSS feeds directly, for instance Firefox can turn RSS feeds into “Live Bookmarks” which update themselves automatically. There is also a Firefox extension called Sage which presents feeds via the browser’s sidebar.
- There are dedicated software packages for you to install on your own computer, such as FeedDemon for Windows PCs and Amphetadesk for Windows, MacOS and Linux. Readers are also available for some handheld devices and smartphones with internet access.
- You can also use free web-based services to view and manage feeds. Examples are Bloglines and Yahoo!’s MyYahoo! service.
Lakeland Library Services RSS feed
The URL is http://catherin.blog.usf.edu/wp-rss2.php.
Add this address to your aggregator to subscribe and get all the latest news about the Lakeland Library Services.