Reading RSS Feeds
RSS (which, in its latest format, stands for “Really Simple Syndication”) 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). The icon above was introduced in Mozilla Firefox in order to indicate a web feed was present on a particular webpage that could be used in conjunction with the Live bookmarks function. Microsoft and Opera have adopted the icon in order to promote a defacto standard (Feed Icon).
RSS usually comes in plain text and sometimes attached with images, videos, and other medias. To read RSS feeds, you need a feed reader. If you are already using Mozilla Firefox, chances are you already have one right in your browser. But if you are looking for another reader I suggest using FeedReader.
FeedReader is a free software for reading RSS feeds. It’s powerful, has many features, and easy to use. One thing I like about this software is that you can view the feeds offline. Like for example lets say you updated all your feeds, then you’ve disconnected from the Internet, you can still read the downloaded text portion of the feeds. Also if you downloaded the images attached to the feed, it will be saved on your computer. While you’re online you can just let it sit in your system tray and it will update automatically. And it doesn’t even consume a lot of memory resources, while it is at the system tray. The downside is that, when you run the program after shutting it down, it takes some time to load.
So if you’re like me, reading lots of news, blogs, and articles from many different websites. Just look for the RSS icon on your browser’s address bar then add it up to your FeedReader. Opening one program to read all these stuff is much faster than loading each website just to read its update. Remember, any website that has a RSS icon can be loaded to FeedReader.
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