A web agency weblog

Every weblog, news site or regularly updated web site is talking about feeds, syndication, XML and RSS. I will try to explain these terms and how they can help us. You will also learn how to subscribe to a feed using a feeds reader.

A feed is like an envelope containing information to be distributed in an easy way. For example this weblog feed contains summaries of the last articles posted. In a news site the feed could contain latest news.

RSS is the technology (one of the available technologies, another one is Atom) which allows these feeds to be delivered. Both, RSS and Atom, are based on XML.

Syndication is the process by which people get the content from the feeds. Actually, visitors don’t get the feeds by themselves, they use specialized software known as feeds readers or aggregators. When you read “Syndicate this content” is like: “Hey, you can have this content delivered to you as a feed in a very easy and fast way".

Why should you care about all this?

Let’s see a practical example:

Every morning you get online, visit your five favorite blogs to see if there are new posts which you may be interested in reading, then go to a couple of news sites, see what is happening in the world and finally visit your favorite band site to see when their next tour will begin.

We are talking of loading at least seven or eight web sites on your browser, looking for the relevant content and waiting for all the text and images on each site to download.

Our routine morning browsing could take from half an hour to much more if you find something worth reading, in a worst case scenario you won’t find anything today and just lost half an hour opening and closing browser windows.

Using content syndication you could just subscribe to the web sites you like and get summaries of updated content from one place. If you want to read something you are just a click away, you don’t have to lose time going to each site.

Currently I am subscribed to more than thirty different feeds and use only five or ten minutes a day to see what is new. Of course, if you find something interesting, I always do, you could spend a lot of time reading.

How do I subscribe and use feeds?

First you have to get a feeds reader. These two are the ones I am currently using:

NewsDesk: Free, Windows based, requires .NET framework installed.

Bloglines: A web based free service. You can see all your subscribed feeds from one single web page. It offers interesting options for blog owners. For example, our weblog showcases some of my bloglines subscriptions.

After you have selected your feeds reader, and read its instructions, browse to a site offering a feed.

Many sites show their feeds as a link with acronyms such as XML, RSS 2.0 or Atom, others prefer to use an orange box with the letters XML in white. Our weblog uses these simple words for its feed link: “Syndicate this site’s content".

If you click on the feed link with your mouse you will be taken to an XML document. Copy the url from your browser address bar and paste it in your feeds reader software. That was easy!, now you are subscribed to a feed.

Optionally, at least in Interner Explorer for Windows, you can right click the feed link and choose “Copy shortcut", then paste it to your feeds reader, this way you don’t have to open the XML document.

Now you can stop wasting your time looking for information and start wasting it just reading.