A (re-)introduction to RSS

What is RSS?

(From the RSS Advisory Board Homepage)

RSS is a Web content syndication format. It’s name is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication

It allows you to check on updates of different websites you are following without visiting them all individually in your browser every time (which would be a great time waster). Also, as opposed to e-Mail newsletters, or social media feeds, it puts the reader in control!

How does it work?

There are two pieces to the puzzle:

• RSS readers
• RSS feeds

What is an RSS feed?

An RSS feed is an XML document containing a list of posts (or similar items). Here are some examples:

• A podcast’s RSS feed will contain (URLs to) all podcast episodes with their upload timestamps, and often descriptions. If you are regularly listening to podcasts, chances are your podcast app is already using it.
• In the same manner, a blog’s RSS feed will contain all blog posts etc.

Hint: In case you are looking for my own blog’s RSS feed, you can find it in the footer of this page.

How can I find RSS feeds?

While many pages still keep RSS buttons around, they have become rarer and rarer over time. The easiest way to find RSS feeds is the Awesome RSS Firefox plugin, which displays a feed button inside the URL bar whenever one is provided by the webpage.

What about YouTube?

YouTube also uses RSS in the background, but hides their feeds from users. There are workarounds, however, and I will post a guide on how to get YouTube channel feeds in the near future.

What is an RSS reader?

An RSS reader is a program, that regularly checks all RSS feeds the user subscribed to for updates and displays them in a way the user likes it to be displayed. (Which is probably why it was never popular with people interested in serving you ads)

RSS Reader Recommendations

Since RSS is a very old protocol (it’s been around since the late 1990s), there are many RSS readers to choose from. Here are some recommendations:

Platform Independent

• Chances are, you are using Mozilla Thunderbird for e-Mail. In this case, you could try out it’s integrated RSS reader.
• If you prefer a standalone program, take a look at QuiteRSS

Platform Specific

Android

• Personally, I don’t really care for reading blogs on the phone, but Feeder seems to be a popular option.

Linux, Mac

• If you are not afraid of terminal sessions, newsboat is a lightweight and highly configurable RSS reader.

Mac, iDevices

• NetNewsWire is a nice peculiarity - it’s free and open source, very beautiful, and only exists inside the Apple ecosystem.