What Is RSS?


Ever wondered what those orange buttons on websites actually do?



Wouldn’t it be great if you could just get all the headlines and updated content from your favourite websites and blogs in one place, with the added ability to choose which subjects you read from each source?


Video: RSS in Plain English (provided by Common craft).



With RSS feeds you can get the latest headlines in one place, as soon as its published, without having to visit the websites you have subscribed to.

Consider the benefits:

  • You visit fewer websites
  • Your chose content is on demand - ready and waiting when you want it. If you can't get to it for a few days, all your news will still be there for you (unlike traditional sites where news expires off the front page each day)
  • You customize the news and content that comes to you
  • You can ignore articles or channels that are not of interest to you at the moment, or add them
  • You stay up-to-date on any news by topic, industry, or subject area.
  • You don't have to check back for new postings on the news site. The feed readers deliver content to you

That one place where your RSS list is created is called an RSS Reader, and it gathers all the headlines from all the websites and blogs you have subscribed to.


Next: RSS Readers