In general, the
first thing you need is something called a news reader. This is a piece
of software that checks the feeds and lets you read any new articles that
have been added. There are many different versions, some of which are
accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications.
Browser-based news
readers let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from any computer,
whereas downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer,
in the same way that you either download your e-mail using Outlook, or
keep it on a web-based service like Hotmail.
Once you have chosen
a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want it
to receive.
If you click on the
RSS button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by
dragging the URL of the feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting
the same URL into a new feed in your news reader. Most sites that offer
feeds use a similar orange button, but some may just have a normal web
link.
Some browsers, including
Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for feeds for you when
you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can
make subscribing to feeds much easier. For more details on these, please
check their websites. |