If you do not know what RSS is, or how to use it to make your life simpler, I have one simple step for you: sign up for Google Reader.

Many websites, and nearly all blogs, now have an RSS feed – it contains the content of the website in a form you can access without having to actually visit the site.

1. Sign up for Google Reader
2. Add the sites you like
3. Visit Google Reader to read all your favourite sites in one fell swoop

Getting Started

If you already have a Google account, or a Gmail account, you can sign in to Google Reader. If you don’t, the sign up process is easy.

Once you are signed up and logged in, you can click on the ‘Add Subscription’ button (as highlighted in the image above). This will open an input where you can type the web address of any site:

If you type a website address into that box Google reader will attempt to find the RSS feed. You can also find the RSS feed yourself and copy it directly into that box.

Finding RSS feeds on sites

How do you find a websites RSS feed? Look for the following:

• This, or a similar icon, icon:
• The words RSS, Subscribe, Feed, Webfeed or XML.

Usually there will be a link along with one of the above, follow the link to be taken to the RSS feed. Once there, you can copy the URL and paste it into the Google Reader Add Subscription box.

Subscribing to sites

Now you know how to get Google Reader to check for feeds by typing the website address directly into the ‘add subscription’ area, and how to locate feeds yourself and add them using the ‘add subscription’ box.

So, type in websitedesigncork.com into that box and you will be subscribed to the content of my blog. From then on, Google Reader will be able to show you any updates to my blog. Over time as you add more and more sites it means you can see easily what sites have new content and you can read many new articles without leaving Google Reader.

I used to always find interesting sites, bookmark them and then constantly forget to visit them. With a feed reader like Google Reader that’s no longer an issue.

Once you get used to using Google Reader, you will wonder how you did without it!

Do I have to use Google Reader?

Absolutely not. I have focussed on it here because I use it myself and like it, and because it is easy to use. The best way for beginners to learn about RSS is to dive right in.

However there are myriads of feed readers out there. Do a search for ‘Feed Readers’ and you’ll find plenty of them out there, both online feed readers and desktop applications.

Have a look at this Wikipedia entry which lists some feed readers for both Mac and PC as well as some other online feed readers.

Wait, I still don’t get it!

Perhaps I haven’t explained it well enough. have a look at this video about RSS from CommonCraft and see if it helps!

This RSS Help article was written by Website Design Cork