RSS+Feeds+and+Readers

What's an RSS Feed?

If you follow blogs or other periodic content on the web, there's an easy way to have new posts sent to you. Just like you subscribe to YouTube channels and other social media you can subscribe to internet content using an RSS Feed.



Common Craft show on RSS Feeds []

RSS Feed Readers come in several types:

Stand Alone Readers - you go to a website and log in to retrieve your posts. (ie Bloglines) Some, like Google Reader, allow you to embed the reader in frontpages (like iGoogle) or other services, but they are sites you log into even then.

E-Mail RSS Readers - these are the RSS feed collectors built into e-mail services like Microsoft Outlook.

Embedded Readers - this type of reader is an add-on to your browser itself. Firefox has Sage as its reader, for instance.

Desktop Readers - these are an application you download to your computer and it creates a desktop link or widget that downloads your posts from the internet to your desktop without requiring your browser to open.

Mobile Readers - Yeah, there's an app for that....several dozens in fact.

Features beyond the actual location of the reader might help you decide which to commit to using, so be sure to look at all the bells and whistles. I once chose Bloglines as my reader because it made my feeds shareable not only to my own blog in the form of a blog roll widget, but also publicly available. When I had to move to a new reader, I went with Google Reader...and then Google decided to end that service! There are hundreds of them out there to try, so do your homework.

One word of warning, and Lee mentioned it in the video above, collecting feeds can get a little out of hand so be sure you stay up to date cleaning out the content you're not reading anymore or it will get overwhelming.

List of Popular Readers
Feedly (this is my "go to" reader...very adaptable.) [|https://feedly.com] available on via the cloud (Mac and PC0 and as an app for iOS, Android, and Kindle

Sage (integrates with Firefox browser) []

Pageflakes (A custom homepage creator with an integrated Reader) []

Microsoft Outlook (RSS feeds in your e-mail handler)

You'll often hear of Bloglines and Google Reader because they were the best, but both have been discontinued.