Ok. This is almost embarrassing for me to admit. I’m sure most of you are way ahead of me on this. But for months now, I’ve wondered about and ignored those little orange icons on each Web site I go to. Or all talk about RSS feeds. It seemed uber nerdy, or something I just wasn’t interested in exploring. However, more and more I’ve noticed the sites I enjoy advertising their RSS feeds. So, I decided to look into it today. What are these little orange icons? Am I totally at the back of the popularity line with this?Before I explain what and how—because I know there’s at least a few of you who are just in the dark about this as I am—let me tell you that they are WAY cool, and I wish I would have had the patience before today to figure them out. Please take my advice and sign up right away.
Basically, a RSS feed is a streamlined way to keep track of the Web sites you visit daily. My Favorite Links list has grown exponentially since starting in the corporate world, and for someone is who obsessed with organization, RSS feeds and readers are really genius.
RSS readers (news readers, etc.) are free, and there are quite a number of them to choose from. A RSS reader is basically one Web page that organizes all the site feeds you’ve subscribed to. And you can personalize your page, changing the color, adding the weather forecast or your horoscope, and organize tabs for your feeds such as Sports, Entertainment, Blogs, Fashion, etc. It basically organizes the entire Internet—personalized to your liking—and eliminates the need for tons and tons of saved links. Each RSS feed automatically updates, so you can see if a blog has been updated without checking it 14 times a day, or you can read the latest news headlines as they’re posted on SeattleTimes.com or TheStranger.com.
Really, I encourage those of you who still are clueless about this to check it out. It takes some time to subscribe to all the pages you view on a daily or weekly basis, but it’s totally worth it. And even better, you can add my blog site to your feeds! Here’s how to jump on the RSS bandwagon:
Really, for an Internet-minded person, does it get any better than this? Dare I ask…
- 1. Choose a RSS reader. From what I’ve seen on the Web sites I read regularly, some of the most popular ones are Bloglines, Pageflakes, Technorati, Netvibes, MyGoogle, MyMSN, MyYahoo, MyAOL, etc. I don’t think it really matters, I just chose according to the look and feel of the page that I enjoyed the most.
- 2. Once you choose your reader, start subscribing to the feeds of all the Web sites you read daily. A lot of them have the “one-click” option, and will have icons listed on the side that look like these:
If you don’t see an icon that corresponds to your reader, you can just copy and paste a URL into the “Add a Feed” option on your RSS Reader site.
- 3. Personalize your page by organizing the tabs, collapsing modules, or making the headline lists longer or shorter.
- 4. Delete that long list of Favorites and visit your RSS Reader site every day to see all your favorite Web sites in one location!
Currently Feeling: Even more organized than I felt yesterday, which is a feeling I’m obsessed with.
Currently Anticipating: Feeling less restless.
Currently Loving: 24: Season Three
3 comments:
That is neato. I will stick with my favorites list though. Hope your week is off to a good start.
Favorites Lists are so passe, Jenny! Jump on the bandwagon! You can check all the blogs you read on one page to see if there's new posts, instead of clicking separately on each one!
Is this a joke? You seriously haven't known about this? So 4 years ago.
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Thanks for taking the time to read and put your two cents in! I like to read and respond to most of my comments, so click the "Subscribe By Email" button to be part of the conversation! OkThnxBai.