Feed Readers

With some fine tuning and a good dose of learning I now have my Blog setup to make it more user friendly

Many sites now provide feeds of their content which you can subscribe to. This easy technology allows you to use software called a ‘feed reader’ which reads content from sites instead of visiting the site itself. Don’t be put off by XML or RSS - this is genuinely simple to do.

Why would I want to do it?
If you like to keep up to date with a number of sites, you can now do so more easily with a feed reader. You no longer have to go from site to site checking for new entries. This technology allows you to keep up to date with a large number of sites. Using a feed reader you can subscribe to a sites feed. You can now read the sites content in your feed reader and the site’s feed will automatically update. The feed reader will usually have a way to visually let you know when there is fresh content from a site you are subscribed to, so you can see at a glance which feeds you need to catch up on.

OK, so how do I do all this?
First, you’ll need a feed reader. You can install a feed reader on your computer so that you have access to it on your desktop, or if you prefer you can use an online feed reader

The following feed reader which is installed on my computer is what I use though there are many more to investigate.
http://www.feedreader.com/.

How do I recognise a site’s feed?
A lot of sites include a text link or button which leads to their feed. There are many different names and buttons in use to alert you to a site’s feed. You have probably seen these links or buttons but you may not have known what they were. A common button is a small orange button with white writing on it which might say one of the following:
RSS
XML
Webfeed
Feed
Site Feed
Subscribe
These buttons are usually links to a web address of the feed for that site or blog. That is the url you need to give to your ‘feed reader’ in order to subscribe.

It’s that easy?
Well, yes:
Choose a feed reader
Tell your feed reader where the feeds you like are
Read all your favourite sites without searching for links in your bookmarks.

Click on the thumbnail below to see a sample of mine. As you can see there is a right hand mouse click menu which offers more control over the feed reader.