RSS Feeds Overview
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide news headlines, brief article descriptions and links in an xml file that is automatically updated whenever those headlines change. This allows you to receive notification of new content in your own environment - in your browser, on your desktop, in your blog, on your website or elsewhere.
Use an RSS Feed
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Via a News Reader
To view our RSS feeds on your computer, you will first need to acquire a news reader or aggregator of some sort, like Feedly, Fark or PulseM.
These programs pull all your selected RSS feeds into one place. Once you have a reader, all you have to do is (1) click the button for the feed you want, (2) copy the URL from the address bar and (3) paste it into your RSS application. Different readers work slightly different ways, but all are pretty user-friendly.
There are many news readers available on the web. Some can be downloaded for free, or on a free trial, while others which offer more features or customization charge. It is worth noting that some readers will work better on different operating systems. A tip is to start with a web-based application (Feedly is a great one to start with) and work from there. See the links at the bottom of the page for a number of options.
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Via a web browser
A number of web browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically pick up RSS feeds. Check their homepages for details about how they handle RSS feeds.
Browser/News Reader/Aggregator Options
There are many aggregator options, but below are a few that are easy to set up and get started with.
Mozilla Firefox browser - live bookmarks
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The live bookmarks facility on the Mozilla Firefox browser allows you to view constantly-updated headlines in your bookmarks menu.
Feedly
Fark
PulseM
RSS FeedReader