RSS Feeds | Feed yourself, start today!

[Blane]

Hello ppl!

 

It's time for a new tutorial and today I'm gonna present you something which should amaze you or you may ignore it much more than anything else.Either way, I personally believe this is a good way for internet users which are browsing many sites, to keep the new/replies or whatever it is each time, in an order, browse them with an application, without browsers and lazy lags.The name of the solution? "RSS Feeds": This little orange thingy which you may saw in many sites and you may wondered what the hell is it.Ok let's see it with more details...

 

RSS Feeds

 

 

What is it?

 

 

Directly from Wikipedia:

RSS (most commonly expanded as "Really Simple Syndication") is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.[2] An RSS document (which is called a "feed", "web feed",[3] or "channel") includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader", or "aggregator", which can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile-device-based. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed's URI or by clicking an RSS icon in a web browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.

 

With few words:

A way to get the content from a webpage and read it through your computer.

 

 

Why RSS?

 

 

Well of course you may wonder, why should I use this system, when I can easily go to the webpage and view the content in some minutes.Well in some cases it's not that easy to view all different webpages so fast as RSS.In order to summarize a bit,  RSS is like an inbox.In there you can see all the latest headlines from your favorite websites and by a single click you can read the content and some times there will be a button "Read More..." to visit the page and view the comments/replies and the rest of the stuff.Especially when someone is a blog watcher and he visits many blogs generally, forums, sites with news, RSS is the best solution for him/her.You keep your news organized and you can select WHAT to read, and you can delete it from your inbox, mark it as read, as junk and generally take similar actions as in your mailbox.

 

 

How is this shit working?

 

 

You have probably seen in many sites small orange icons as the one which is here in the topic with these 2 lines and one dot.Pressing this little icon or press a link like "RSS" will lead you to the page of the RSS Feeds.This is the link you want to have and enter in your RSS reader application.In many sites you may also see that different RSS links are there for each category.Let's say we are on a tech blog and we want to subscribe in the RSS Feed of the "Windows" category.Then if the site support it you click the link of RSS and copy it.Then we open our preferred application:

 

- In Windows :

 

Just check out this one: http://www.feedreader.com/

Or search in google and choose what you consider better.

 

- In Linux :

 

Just check out this one: http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/BottomFeeder/

Or search in google.

 

- In MacOSX :

 

Use the Mail application which is built-in in the Snow Leopard/Leopard disc.

 

- Mozilla Thunderbird :

 

The tool of mozilla can be a good rss reader too.Check it out ;)

 

In any of these application there will be a link to add a feed.Just copy the link, we were talking before, and paste it in the program.Then you can easily organize the feeds in folders and have all of your media in just one program.Many preference can be chosen and for sure I'm not going to analyze them as they're easy and I don't know them.

 

 

Some examples...

 

 

Check this link: http://feeds.gawker.com/gizmodo/full

Yes, this is an rss feed.The same page structure is being used in the most of rss pages.You copy the link and you paste it in your application.Directly the rss feed is updated with the latest page content and you can read it offline (as soon as it's updated first).Grab many feeds and organize your news in folders, stay updated in the world scene!

 

 

Use RSS Feeds with MaxCheaters Forums!!!

 

 

Categories

 

Let’s say we want to display the latest posts in Off-Topic Section. The URL looks something like this:

 

/index.php?action=collapse;c=4;sa=collapse;#4

 

The key part of the querystring is c=4, which identifies the category. Now, to get Simple Machines Forum to output the category as RSS, let’s recraft the URL a little bit:

 

/index.php?c=4;type=rss;action=.xml;limit=20

 

The additional parameters tell SMF to output the category as RSS and show a maximum of 20 items.

 

Boards

 

If you wanted to see a specific board, you can replace the c=4 with board=16.0. Your URL might look something like this:

 

/index.php?board=16.0;type=rss;action=.xml;limit=20

 

 

---

 

 

The tutorial is clearly mine.Copyrighted by me.Don't copy it without permission.

 

Sources:

 

- www.google.com

- http://www.scribbledesigns.co.uk/2007/01/23/get-rss-feeds-for-any-simple-machines-forum/

- www.wikipedia.com

- My mind and fingers :P

 

I hope you like it, and start using the feeds!

Best regards guys,

-Blane

[xKenji]

awesome :D!

 

thanks a lot! i needed this.

 

+1 karma mate ;)

[ExTrEmEDwarf]

I do a little bump cause i need some help with RSS Feed.

 

So, Here's my question: Can i do RSS Feed on a facebook page?

 

it is not available on bookmarks tab so i need some help >.<