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What is RSS?
Over the years, the abbrevation RSS has stood for several things (Really Simple Syndication,
Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary), but nowadays it's just used as a name. RSS is a protocol to
share data over the internet. Using a site's RSS feed, you can receive its headlines,
links, and article summaries. An increasing number of sites is offering their content as RSS
feeds.
For introductions to RSS, read Mark Nottingham's RSS Tutorial or Ray Matthews' RSS Workshop. For more information, visit
blogspace.com,
syndic8 or
Userland.
The history of RSS and the various versions can be read at
XML.com.
Google Directory
also as an RSS category.
How do I access an RSS feed?
To read RSS feeds, people typically use a piece of software called an aggregator, either
desktop-, web- or mail-based. The aggregator pulls the RSS feed (which is actually an XML file)
from the site, parses it, and presents it in a human-readable format. The aggregator regularly
refreshes the feed, for example every hour or every day, and let's you know if new information has
become available. After reading an item's description, you may click its link to be transferred
to the relevant page on the site.
OnlyTheBestFreeware recommends Syndirella.
More aggregators can be found on
blogspace.com,
hebig.org/blog and in the
Google Directory.
Why should I use it?
The key point is that you don't have to visit sites to find out what's new. Your computer, running aggregator software, does it for you automatically.
Where do I find RSS feeds?
Many news sites and weblogs you frequently visit may already offer an RSS feed. Look for the
XML icon 
, the subscribe button
, or words like
syndication, channel, RDF and XML. You may also check a site's
HTML source code, and look for a link tag with type="application/rss+xml" in the head section.
Several sites now offer directories of RSS feeds, for example
Radio Userland and especially
syndic8. Oftentimes, a site does not offer an RSS feed, but
you still want to access its contents using your aggregator. Luckily, some sites will
scrape them into RSS feeds for you;
MyRSS and
syndic8
are examples of sites that offer this service. Alternatively, some aggregators, like
Syndirella, allow you to scrape the site yourself.
OnlyTheBestFreeware feed
| URL: | www.OnlyTheBestFreeware.com/whatsnewrss.asp |
| Subscribe: | Syndication Subscription Service |
| Syndic8 listing: | 23630  |
| Created with: | ASPRSS |
| Validated with: | Userland and Feeds archive |
| Update frequency: | The feed is updated daily, so don't go crazy and tell your aggregator to refresh the file every hour! Once per 24 hours is more than enough. |