RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication.  It brings new content to you instead of you having to go to it.  It is a way for web sites such as CNN, Yahoo, New York Times, and even schmahl.net to send brief descriptions of new or changed content on their web site along with a link to the full story or referenced page.

RSS is a very useful way of quickly getting content you care about.  Many information junkies, myself included, used to have countless favorites or bookmarks in their browsers in an effort to stay abreast of news, hobbies, work related items, and so forth.  At one time I even went to the trouble of making a sub-domain with some of my often visited sites.  Needless to say using RSS feeds made that site obsolete and it has been deleted.

As mentioned earlier and worth repeating, once sites with RSS feeds are configured into a browser such as Firefox's live bookmarks, into Outlook with a plug-in, or with a standalone program such as RSS Bandit you no longer have to go to the sites to find new information, the new information comes to you.  Programs or plug-ins that collect the RSS feeds are often called aggregators or readers.

In December, 2005, Microsoft and a host of others reached a consensus that this icon will be used to indicate a site with RSS feeds.  Standardizing on the same icon will reduce confusion, eventually.  Until all sites with feeds update expect to continue seeing icons similar to this or to this to indicate the XML programming code that makes it work.  Depending on your method of aggregating your RSS feeds either clicking on the icon while your RSS program is running or right clicking it to select copy location and then pasting it into your RSS program will add the site to your aggregator.

The Firefox browser will display a image in the address bar that can be clicked to quickly add the feed to its Live Bookmarks.

Microsoft Internet Explorer has a folder in favorites called Web Feeds.  The feeds icon in the toolbar will get a star on it to indicate a newly found feed.  Clicking on it will display the feed name and begin the process of adding it to the IE Web Feeds.

Your choice of an aggregator will depend on your type of Internet connection and your personal choice.  I have not tested any or even checked for any that will download content with a dial-up connection for off-line reading, so if anyone goes to the trouble of finding one to recommend let me know.

The personal choices depend on if you want a plug-in for an existing program such as your e-mail program, a standalone program, if will you want to synchronize feeds you've read between multiple computers, and layout features.  I favor RSS Bandit, mainly because it has an option to synchronize feeds to a thumb drive so that history, feeds, and which feeds have already been read are transportable among several computers.

Further reading and useful links:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/web/expert/bridgman_05november21.mspx Microsoft RSS FAQ

http://www.whatisrss.com Educational site with links for inquiring minds that want more information

http://www.rssbandit.org RSS Bandit's home page, my current aggregator of choice

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/live-bookmarks how to use Live Bookmark Feeds in Firefox

http://www.rsspopper.com  Free plug-in for Microsoft Outlook

http://www.pluck.com Free plug-in for Internet Explorer

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/rsshelp Microsoft's explanation of RSS

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