anybody know about RSS feeds?

[Gregg Bell]

I was reading that my blog should have one, but heck if I know how to go about getting one (they said I should have the little orange icon). Can anybody tell me in a general way what the RSS feed thing is and whether I should get one for my blog? Thanks.

[latepaul]

Since I see from your sig that you use Blogger for your blog this link would seem to have the relevant info on how to set up feeds.

As for what it is - well it's a way of publishing updates to people who are interested. In the old days of "web-logs" I used to regularly check a number of sites, cycling through my favourite bookmarks. If I forgot to visit a particular site for a few days then maybe there would be lots of new updates there. An RSS feed is a way of providing a summary and a link when new material is available. Various programs which understand RSS feeds can be used to follow them. So instead of regularly checking my bookmarks - which I may forget to do - I regularly check my RSS reader. Better still it can regularly check in the background and when I open it I can see that say, "Gregg's blog" has a new post and go and read it. So it feels more like it's updates being delivered to me.

Now I say RSS reader but these days I'm not sure how many people still use them. Most browsers will handle RSS feeds, there are a number of browser add-ons, email programs like Outlook and Thunderbird and so on. Personally I use Google Reader - which is a web-based RSS service.

Oh and RSS is generally how podcasts are delivered. The link of "new stuff" is a download for an mp3 (or other file) rather than a webpage but the principle's the same.

If you have an active blog you should definitely enable feeds as it's how many people will "follow" your updates.

HTH

[VydorScope]

Finally - RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Since I see from your sig that you use Blogger for your blog this link would seem to have the relevant info on how to set up feeds.

As for what it is - well it's a way of publishing updates to people who are interested. In the old days of "web-logs" I used to regularly check a number of sites, cycling through my favourite bookmarks. If I forgot to visit a particular site for a few days then maybe there would be lots of new updates there. An RSS feed is a way of providing a summary and a link when new material is available. Various programs which understand RSS feeds can be used to follow them. So instead of regularly checking my bookmarks - which I may forget to do - I regularly check my RSS reader. Better still it can regularly check in the background and when I open it I can see that say, "Gregg's blog" has a new post and go and read it. So it feels more like it's updates being delivered to me.

Now I say RSS reader but these days I'm not sure how many people still use them. Most browsers will handle RSS feeds, there are a number of browser add-ons, email programs like Outlook and Thunderbird and so on. Personally I use Google Reader - which is a web-based RSS service.

Oh and RSS is generally how podcasts are delivered. The link of "new stuff" is a download for an mp3 (or other file) rather than a webpage but the principle's the same.

If you have an active blog you should definitely enable feeds as it's how many people will "follow" your updates.

HTH

Thanks HTH. That link was perfect. On the "allow blog feed" I set it to "until jump break." Could I ask a favor, though. Could you swing by there and see if it's set up properly (as if you wished to have the ability, like you said, to check for new posts in my blog)?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Finally - RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

Nothing is really simple with this stuff!

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Thanks HTH. That link was perfect. On the "allow blog feed" I set it to "until jump break." Could I ask a favor, though. Could you swing by there and see if it's set up properly (as if you wished to have the ability, like you said, to check for new posts in my blog)?

Yep it's working. I can subscribe to your blog with the "subcribe to posts (atom)" link at the bottom of the page. I can also subscribe to the comments feed on each individual post.

By the way, HTH is short for "Hope This Helps" - you can call me Paul

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Yep it's working. I can subscribe to your blog with the "subcribe to posts (atom)" link at the bottom of the page. I can also subscribe to the comments feed on each individual post.

By the way, HTH is short for "Hope This Helps" - you can call me Paul

(Just kidding.) Thanks Paul, I really appreciate you doing that. (I checked out your blog--very nice!) LOL about the HTH.

IAD
(short for "I Am Dork")