From the mailbag (a new feature for Fridays?)

Jason Shellen
20 years ago · 1 min read

 

Question: Sometimes, when browsing, I see people talk about their RSS feed, which seems to have something to do with XML. Do you know where I could find info about it?

Answer: RSS (RDF Site Summary) is a (primarily) text format for reading blogs, news sites and perhaps other content in the future. You need an RSS reader to make much sense out of an RSS feed. Check out: Newzcrawler or NewsMonster for two options. Some folks see a benefit in being able to read weblogs in a fast scanning format that is reminicent of an email inbox. You can subscribe to feeds that will update and refresh in your reader as new content becomes available.

If you want to see what an RSS feed looks like, view the RSS feed for this site in IE. This will show the raw format. My feed is output by Blogger Pro (though I'm using a beta version of the next Blogger for mine). If you use Blogger Pro it's a matter of turning the settings on to publish simultaneously when your blog publishes.

Check out these articles for more info: