What’s an RSS Feed?

1. What’s an RSS Feed?

2. Wikipedia says… • “RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS document, which is called a "feed," "web feed," or "channel," contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that's easier than checking them manually.” • Wikipedia, "RSS." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 07 Nov, 20007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 8 Nov 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS>.

3. Huh?

4. In a nutshell… • Feeds are summaries of the information that’s sent out from sites that publish very frequently • They’re really useful for keeping track of news, blog, and podcast sites

5. Oh. So, how do I use them? • The good news is that newest version of Internet Explorer makes it easy. • I’ll walk you through the process….

6. Step one: Surf • Say that, while you’re surfing the ‘net, you find a site with regular updates, like a blog (we’ll use www.boingboing.net as an example, because it’s one of my favourites)

7. Step two: Hit the Orange Button • If there’s an RSS Feed, there will be an orange button that looks like this one on the top right hand side of the screen

8. Oh! There it is!

9. Step three: Subscribe

10. Step three (part II): Subscribe

11. And you’re done!

12. Now what do I do with it?

13. Step four: Check your feeds • On the left side of the screen, look for a star. • That’s your favourites button. • Right beside it, you’ll see that RSS button from before. • Click on that to pull up your feeds.

14. New feed! • From now on, whenever you have a new feed, the link will show up in bold. • Click on the bold type to get all the new information from that site.

15. Success!

16. That’s it! • That’s all there is to it. • If you have any questions, please contact Shaftesbury’s helpful Library Staff!