How to Understand RSS Better

Most webmasters use RSS and a lot of people would like to know what it actually means, well this is a friend's explanation about RSS:

"I think, the basic idea of RSS is used (in this instance) for a website to provide a link that I can use by a cute-looking little chicklet that will feed my blogs. I believe that (whatevah) technology is taking updates on a certain website, formatting info as RSS or Atom or something like that, to be consumed by collective software"

This poor fellow is not alone. A large number of people are still baffled by the many wonders of the Internet. For those who want to start blogging, the usefulness of the RSS concept must be fully understood.

The general idea of the RSS feeds is very simple indeed. It is tool that you use to help the spread and the exposure of your blogs to all corners of the Internet. Through RSS, anyone who subscribed to your blogs will be regularly informed about the new blogs you published and other updates. You can put the different websites you visit every day in one place using RSS.

Without RSS, people will waste a lot of time pursuing their daily dose of fresh news and updated information. Websites are impractically constrained on their publishing activities because they have to wait for availability of new content.

RSS (a.ka. Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is the process of spreading content from a website to another website using a feed reader program; thus, the nickname RSS feeds.

Atom is a type of feed reader and it is another form of RSS. Both are children of XML technology. Simply put, XML technology is a form of language used to build blocks that create website pages.

RSS feeds are often viewed on websites. The programs that can be used to read feeds are called Readers or Aggregators. These programs are often found in browsers, on websites, or on email software. Feed readers also indicate what feed you have and have not read.

The Firefox browser from Mozilla was the first to include a blog feed (a box-shaped symbol with color orange), which is often found at the right side end of the address bar.

Feed Demon, Feedburner, Technorati, Google Homepage, and Bloglines are just a few popular online readers. These feed websites create your feeds for free. Some websites, like Blogger, come with automatic feed reader. Some have charges for feed reading service because it comes with advanced features regarding visitor traffic, statistics and even IP addresses.

Through RSS feeds, web syndication is now possible where Internet browsers to link together as many websites as they want.