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Working with RSS feeds is Really Simple

Elena Santos

Elena Santos

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rss-reader-1.gifAfter browsing blogs for a while you may have noticed that most of them display a little orange logo linked to something called RSS feed. But do you really know what RSS is?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, although sometimes it’s also referred to as Rich Site Summary. In short, the RSS standard is used to check if a website has been updated and if so, present the new content conveniently laid out to the user. In this way, if you subscribe to the RSS feed of your favorite blog, you don’t need to visit it everyday to check if there are any new posts or not; RSS will do it for you.

Now that you know what an RSS feed is you may be wondering how to subscribe to them. The answer to this question has two main options: either you install an RSS desktop reader or you sign up with any of the various online readers available. Both are perfectly valid solutions and will work fine for you, being the choice between desktop or online apps just a question of personal preference.

rss-reader-2.jpgSoftonic features a whole category devoted to RSS, where you’ll find free desktop RSS readers such as Abilon, Awasu, RSSOwl or FireANT, this latter being capable of managing also audio and video. However, if you’re more of the online inclination, we recommend using Google Reader, Netvibes or Bloglines.

One last tip: you can also create your own RSS feeds to deliver content from your personal website. Most blogging services like Blogger and WordPress already offer support for RSS. If you’re looking for advanced functionalities, you can take a look at FeedBurner, an online service for RSS creation and management. Of course, you can also use desktop software for these purposes: RSS Wizard, FeedForAll and RSS Builder are just three of the many apps available on Softonic.

Elena Santos

Elena Santos

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