Tuesday, August 31, 2004
What is RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it is a way for websites to let you know that content has been added. Rather than you going to your favorite websites every few days to see if there is a change, you open a newsreader that polls the websites for you. Any new web content is listed with a description - you can then decide whether to open the web page and read it.
RSS started as a way for commercial websites to notify customers of new content, but wide use of RSS only happened when weblogs or blogs became popular. Some bloggers post content everyday (even every hour) while others post only once a week. Newsreaders let you view lots of new content in one convenient place.
How is this different from an email newsletter?
Someone who has a website could notify her web visitors by email when there is new content, but with spam on the rise, this turns out to be more complicated than it seems. She has to keep track of subscriptions, obsolete email addresses, and opt-out requests. She would much rather use RSS to inform her visitors.
As a visitor, it is much simpler to subscribe using RSS, since the subscription stays in your newreader. This means that you don't have to reveal your email address to the websites that you want to subscribe to. And that means less spam for everyone.
Of course there are good uses for email newsletters, especially when there is an established provider-client relationship. But for content that doesn't require such a direct notification, RSS is the way to go.
Where can I get a Newsreader, and how much does it cost?
Fortunately, there are many free newsreaders available for download. My two favorites are:
NetNewsWire Lite (for Mac OS X) by Ranchero Software
http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/
Sharpreader (for Windows XP) by Luke Hutteman
http://www.sharpreader.net/
Let me know what you think about RSS.
Have Fun!
--Thomas
Last modified on Wed, 1 Sep 2004 00:23:36 GMT
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