Reading is a healthy habit that not only gives you ample of knowledge but also helps your interpersonal skills. Now that with internet you have the option to save paper and go green, it also causes headaches, especially when you try to find something worth reading. The selection of readable content is one of the major issues that you may face with internet reading due to heavy collection.
To get you rid of this problem, RSS feed was developed that helps you save time in searching for content to read or watch. With RSS, you get the latest updates from your subscribed authors (website) on your RSS aggregator (a program), without the need of visiting that website. Let’s have a look on what is RSS feed and How to use it.
What is RSS Feed?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, which is to subscribe to the feed (updates) of a website, author or any media content (audio, video, visual etc.) and get them on your device without visiting that website. To put it simple, you can take the example of subscribing to a newsletter of a shopping website that sends you emails with all the latest offers and sale, which you may click on to purchase if you wish to.
Once you’ve syndicated (subscribed) to a website or the content author’s feed, you would require a software called RSS Aggregator, which is called the RSS Reader. This RSS Reader would syndicate with all your subscribed websites and would show you the latest and updated content for you to watch or read. This way, you wouldn’t have to visit the website or search for a readable content.
How to use RSS feed on your computer?
Before you decide to use RSS feed, you must ensure that you’ve got an RSS Aggregator that would help you encode the feeds. You may download any of the RSS Aggregator that you may find over the internet for free. One of the best RSS Reader is RSSOwl that is available for free. However, if you are skeptical about downloading anything on your machine, you may consider adding RSS Feed Reader extension to your Chrome web browser.
Once you’re done with the reader, it is time to subscribe to a feed of a website. To do this, you just need to click on the RSS icon, which looks similar a tilt Wi-Fi icon, usually in orange color. As soon as you click on RSS icon, it opens up a page that may come up with some HTML codes. However, you don’t have to take care of the codes and just need to copy the link in the address bar. Now, just paste the link in your RSS Feed Reader app or the web-based portal by clicking on the ‘Add RSS Feed’ button. This way, you would start to get updated feeds without having to visit the website.
Now that you know how to use RSS feed, it is time to make the most of it. You can download any of the RSS reader on your machine and get notified about the updated content without wasting any time. Using RSS not only helps you save time but also gives you the best material of your choice to look into. If you wish to share tips and tricks related to RSS or on using it, do let us know in the comments below.