Okay, so what does that mean? And why would you ever want such a service? Let me try to explain.

Not every website updates with the same frequency, nor is it always immediately apparent on any given website where the new stories are and what they are about. This can make browsing the Internet a time-wasting enterprise. My personal habit is to check back on various sites throughout the day, and often those sites are not all that different, if they are different at all. Then there are sites such as Quadlings, which do not update their content every day. So how do you know when to check back for new content? You don’t want to necessarily be loading sites all the time if there is no new content, and doing so only to find the site the same as when you left it might make you give up on that site altogether. But there is a better way.

There’s no full consensus on what RSS actually stands for. The most common definition is Really Simple Syndication, but anyone who has tried to learn XML (which stands for eXtensible Markup Language—the darling of digital architecture, and something that is really beyond the scope of this column but is a revolution in its own right) on which RSS runs might have to disagree with the ‘simple’ part. Basically, an RSS feed is just a text document that describes the stories that have been posted on a website. RSS feed readers—of which there are many, free for your downloading pleasure—will check these text files every few minutes (depending on how you set up your preferences) and let you know which of the sites you have subscribed to have new stories. Anyone who has subscribed to a podcast through iTunes or a similar service has already had experience signing up to an RSS feed, whether they knew it or not. Clicking on the ‘Update’ button in the podcast window is the same thing as clicking on the ‘Refresh’ button in an RSS feed reader; both methods send the reader software out to check all the subscribed feeds and see what’s new.

The other cool part about using an RSS feed reader is that most feeds supply (to varying degrees) short synopses of the pieces the website has published. Using the feed reader, it is easy to get a general sense of most stories without actually even having to go to the website. Just scanning through the short descriptions of the stories listed in your feed reader, you can absorb a great deal. These descriptions can prove very useful if you want to scan through hundreds of stories spread across dozens of websites and get a good sense of what is currently being discussed. Especially when it comes to news stories, RSS feeds can instantly make you far better read than you would necessarily be if left to your own devices. Also, stories will be saved in your feed reader, so if you missed some stories, you can easily retrieve them without digging through a website’s structure after it has already been updated several times over, effectively burying the pieces you missed.

In short, subscribing to RSS feeds through the use of an RSS feed reader is an excellent way to stay current and keep up with the websites you like reading. It streamlines the browsing process, saves you time, allows you to read more stories in less time, and keeps you from missing potentially worthwhile pieces that otherwise might get buried before you get to them. I recommend at least trying out a feed reader to see if it works for you.

And anyway, it is a great way to know precisely when Quadlings updates with new content! That alone should sell you on it, right?

If you’re sold but want to know where to begin, I recommend taking a look at some of the feed readers listed off of NPR’s RSS website. The one I use is the last on the list: Sharp Reader. If anyone needs help, this is the one I can help you set up. The directions are pretty straightforward, but if you need help, do not hesitate to e-mail me. I would be more than happy to help you through the set-up process. Good luck, and I hope you give RSS a try.

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