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What is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows you to have the latest updates to your favourite websites delivered directly to you, rather than clicking from site to site to see if things have changed. In this way, you can see when sites from all over the internet have added new content with zero effort. You can get the latest headlines and articles (or even audio files, photographs or video) in one place, as soon as they are published, without having to remember to visit the sites.

RSS takes the hassle out of staying up-to-date, by showing you the very latest information that you are interested in.

RSS feeds are the modern-day version of the old-fashioned ticker-tape news wire machines.

Not all websites currently provide RSS, but it is growing rapidly in popularity and most sites with frequently updated information - such as BBC, CNN, Reuters, etc - provide some level of RSS.

How do I start using RSS feeds?

In general, the first thing you need is something called a news reader. This is a piece of software that checks RSS feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added to them. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications. Browser-based news readers let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from any computer, whereas downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer, in the same way that you either download your e-mail using Outlook, or keep it on a web-based service like Hotmail.

Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want to receive in your news reader, by finding and subscribing to the relevant RSS feeds. 

If you see an RSS button like the one you just clicked on to get here, click on the button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the RSS feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader.

Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for RSS feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to RSS feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites.

There is a range of different news readers available and new versions are appearing all the time.

Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer.