What is XML/RSS (the little blue or orange buttons)? RSS Guide for Beginners!

[Elvis]

What is XML/RSS? Guide for Beginners!

XML/RSS Guide for Beginners!
RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. It is what it claims to be: a quick and easy way to create and use "syndicated content" such as news headlines and announcements. Some websites (like this one) use RSS to deliver news, articles, and forum discussions to readers who are simply too busy to browse to our site and dig up the content they are interested in.


Step 1: Use a News Aggregator!
The easiest way to experience RSS is through an RSS "newsreader" or "aggregator" for your desktop computer or a web newsreader such as Google Reader. This will fetch and organize recent content and provide simple ways to read it. Choose one and proceed to the next step.


Step 2: Grab the feeds!
Each feed on this site will have button that looks like

There are XML/RSS feeds for all the articles on this site as well for each forum. Choose the one you'd like to use and copy and paste the link into the appropriate section of your RSS reader. On most browsers you can right-click the link and select "copy shortcut" or "copy target address" or something similar. And again, some RSS readers will "auto discover" the RSS feeds on sites you browse, so no cutting and pasting is necessary! Please consult the documentation for your RSS reader for more information.


Step 3: View the content!
The feeds on this site contain a wealth of data and metadata that you're sure to find useful. All the RSS feeds contain titles and links to the related articles. Individual RSS readers present this information differently and you can usually customize the intimate details as you please.


That's about it!
You don't have to come to our site to read articles that don't interest you, and you can preview all you favorite content from the same place! You can also add RSS feeds from your favorite blogs, sites, and stores just as easily as you added our feeds.

Once you start using RSS you'll get the hang of it, it's fairly new... give it a chance.

 

[neutral]

Sweet!! I was hoping that's what it was. I'll have to add it to my AmphetaDesk.

 

[Muggsy]

uh??

 

[Sicy]

Haha that's what I'm saying.

Those orange buttons are kind of distracting too

 

[Bonochick]

They disrupt the flow...they mess with the aesthetics!

Or something.

 

[Elvis]

I've changed them... they are now blue.

I'm also going to be adding a 'How To' guide shortly.

 

[Bonochick]

A thank ya!

 

[arw]

I'm so happy they are blue now. The orange hurt my eyes

 

[Elvis]

I've changed the original post in this thread to reflect a 'guide for beginners'

 

[meegannie]

blue

And I love the word 'aggregator.' I want to aggregate everything.

 

[Sicy]

I'm so happy they are blue now. The orange hurt my eyes

 

[beegee]

i saw this thread but didn't know what you were talking about until i logged in at work today - i have an imac at home and can't see them.

the only change i saw was that the forum descriptions were underlined.

now i see that it has changed again and for me, the forum descriptions are in this huge, horrible text that takes up a lot of my screen.


sometimes, i really dislike change.

 

[Elvis]

i saw this thread but didn't know what you were talking about until i logged in at work today - i have an imac at home and can't see them.

the only change i saw was that the forum descriptions were underlined.

now i see that it has changed again and for me, the forum descriptions are in this huge, horrible text that takes up a lot of my screen.


sometimes, i really dislike change.

Uhm... they shouldnt be. The code dealing with the icons does not affect the forum titles.

Anyone else having this problem?

 

[Queen Bee]

Never mind. I understand it now. (I think)

 

[Sicy]

I have a feeling only the 'nerds' will be using this feature

 

[Elvis]

I have a feeling only the 'nerds' will be using this feature

10 years ago I'd bet you'd have said the same about email.... or forums....

now look at all you 'nerds'

 

[Elvis]

i saw this thread but didn't know what you were talking about until i logged in at work today - i have an imac at home and can't see them.

the only change i saw was that the forum descriptions were underlined.

now i see that it has changed again and for me, the forum descriptions are in this huge, horrible text that takes up a lot of my screen.


sometimes, i really dislike change.

Hi again...

Your text on your Mac IE should now look back to normal... however you will not see the XML icons.

Just for your info, MSIE is a terribly awful browser and isn't used much anymore. Microsoft has even stopped supporting it. I would suggest that you use Apple Safari browser if you can.

 

[beegee]

Your text on your Mac IE should now look back to normal...

oh that's much better!


thank you!

 

[Muggsy]

I have a feeling only the 'nerds' will be using this feature

I don't understand anything ...
I'm a internet-challenged girl...

 

[Sicy]

 

[Mullen-Girl]

LOL I was wondering what that was yesterday! I clicked on it and saw this weird writing. I thought that maybe I was hallucinating or something LOL. It'll probably take me awhile till i try using it.

 

[martha]

Now I want to go over to my dad's pc to see what the big deal is.

 

[Elvis]

Martha... are you using IE5 Mac? You should use Safari (Apples browser which is MUCH better)

 

[martha]

I'm using some version of IE. I don't know which one. It's whatever's on the iMacs I have here at school and at home.


I hate downloading stuff cos it tends to mess up things on the computer.

 

[neutral]

I have a feeling only the 'nerds' will be using this feature

Hey! I resemble that remark.

Oh boo, BlogExpress requires the .NET framework. I guess I'll go download it, 23 megs shouldn't take long on my DSL.

 

[The Sage]

I won't pretend this makes any sense to me, but I was wondering what those orange thingies were that have started popping up on loads of sites...problem is, I don't think i'm much closer to understanding what they are...

 

[neutral]

Guys it's not that complicated, really. The News Aggregator is basically like a mini-browser that grabs summaries of new articles and entries from any site you subscribe to. So if you like to keep up with a lot of sites, you could have this one window giving you a summary of the articles on 10 sites instead of having to visit each site. Then if you see an article you want to read, you could click to it from within the Aggregator or go to the site with your regular browser. I have all the U2 sites with feeds that I could find set up.

This program is super easy, you can just drag those XML icons to the "add" button in this program and it's done. If you're on dial-up it's especially nice because then you don't load a big site and discover there's nothing you wanted to read anyway.

 

[Bonochick]

I'm not busy enough to require that kind of assistance. I need to cure my boredom by allowing myself to manually peruse the sites I visit.

 

[neutral]

Oh I'm not either, believe me. It's just something else to toy around with.

 

[Cleasai]

I have a feeling only the 'nerds' will be using this feature

I'm a self proclaimed nerd and it wouldn't work for me. It says I need a .NET framework. I never even heard of it nor do I know where to get one