news feed

What is RSS?

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It is also known as a News Feed and is in essence a type of online journal that compiles and distributes new content from websites the user would like to be kept up to date on (often with a link to the relevant website page).

How does RSS work?

In order to view an RSS feed you must subscribe to it. This can be done easily through your Internet browser. Click on the orange RSS icon at the top of the page or click on any of the feed links below. You will be shown the feed and asked if you would like to subscribe. Once subscribed you will be able to view our news feed in your browsers RSS viewer. Please note, you will need an up to date version of your Internet browser in order to do this.

How do I use RSS Feeds?

In general, the first thing you need is something called a news reader. This is a piece of software that checks the feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added. 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.

If you click on the RSS button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader. Most sites that offer feeds use a similar orange button, but some may just have a normal web link.

Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to feeds much easier.

news feed