The Way of the Spirit

What is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a feature of an increasing number of websites which contain regularly updated content. By using a program called a news reader, you can see at a glance which of your favourite sites have been updated recently. The RSS icon indicates that a news feed is available.

This can save you time that would otherwise be spent looking through all your favourite websites one by one, to see if there is anything new.

How do I get started?

First of all, you will need a news reader program for your computer. There are several of these available; some links to various news readers are provided below. In addition, Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird browsers include integrated support for RSS news feeds.

Signing up for RSS news feeds

Whenever you see the RSS icon, you can click on this using the right hand mouse button and choose "Copy Shortcut" (Internet Explorer) or "Copy Link Location" (Mozilla Firefox) to copy the URL of the news feed onto the clipboard. (On the Mac, Ctrl+click, and select "Copy link to clipboard.")

You then need to follow the instructions provided with your news reader program to add this news feed to your RSS list. Some news readers, such as SharpReader, allow you to simply drag the icon onto your list of news feeds; for others, you need to copy the link location to the clipboard as described above and paste it into a dialog box.

News readers for Windows

News readers for Mac OS X

Other Internet links