RSS readers

[vraiblonde]

Yes, we have feeds for various aspects of somd.com but that's David's turf - I'm a tard about that stuff.

So why do I want an RSS reader and which one would I use? Do you, like get them on your PDA or cellphone? Would you have it on your computer? What's the dilly-yo?

TIA for any suggestions and advice!

 

[vraiblonde]

:bump:


Nobody has an RSS reader?

 

[Danzig]

You may want to tell them they can find the feeds here ------> http://somd.com/xml/

 

[Toxick]

:bump:


Nobody has an RSS reader?

I have a couple.

There are plugins for FireFox which aggregate RSS feeds. I use Sage, which formats everything very nicely, and is easy to use - infoRSS and Wizz RSS also both look interesting, but I haven't downloaded them yet.

MyYahoo also now supports RSS feeds on your MyYahoo home page. It is quite stable now, and looking really good. I had the somd feed on there a while back, but after Yahoo revamped everything and took the RSS readers out of Beta status and into active status, all my feeds got blown away, and I forgot to re-add the forum feed.


But thanks for reminding me. I'll go do that now.

 

[vraiblonde]

You may want to tell them they can find the feeds here ------> http://somd.com/xml/

Everyone, you can find the feeds ^there^.

But apparently nobody has an RSS reader or knows anything about it. I'm just curious if I should install a news aggregator (a term I just learned from that link ) on my computer and if it has any practical application for regular internet users. Or is it just another new, cool web geek thing?

Remember when PUSH was all the rage back in the day? It seems that all that came out of it was those annoying tickers that I tried and promptly uninstalled, and Weather Channel, which I do use.

 

[vraiblonde]

I have a couple.

Yay! I can ask you retarded questions, then!

Is this something that shows the feeds on your desktop or in a webpage?

I know there are a zillion feeds available because I see them all the time when I'm surfing. I guess I should download Sage, since you like it, and give it a try.

 

[Toxick]

Yay! I can ask you retarded questions, then!

Is this something that shows the feeds on your desktop or in a webpage?

Depends on the program. MyYahoo is, obviously, displayed on a webpage. There are aggregators which run as their own program, and display listboxes with the items, and you open text windows by clicking on them. Sage runs as a plug-in in FireFox, and appears as a docked toolbar, but displays the actual RSS info in a generated webpage.

I think the DogPile Search toolbar also has an RSS feed reader which displays RSS Items in a scrolling marquee.

It all just depends on your preference.

I know there are a zillion feeds available because I see them all the time when I'm surfing. I guess I should download Sage, since you like it, and give it a try.

There are. I like SlashDot, National Weather Service, Yahoo News, Space.com, Gamasutra News, The Smoking Gun, SOMD Fourmites Daily Drama... a bunch of others.

 

[vraiblonde]

Thanks, Tox! One last retarded question (unless I can think of some more): do different feeds require certain readers or do all readers read all feeds? I'd think it would be "one size fits all", since the feeds I've looked at all appear to use the same code. Is that right?

 

[Toxick]

Thanks, Tox! One last retarded question (unless I can think of some more): do different feeds require certain readers or do all readers read all feeds? I'd think it would be "one size fits all", since the feeds I've looked at all appear to use the same code. Is that right?

RSS is a standard subset of XML.
All compliant readers should read all compliant RSS.

 

[vraiblonde]

RSS is a standard subset of XML.
All compliant readers should read all compliant RSS.

Okay, thanks!

 

[Toxick]

Okay, thanks!

No prob. Lemme know if you need any more info.

 

[Tomcat]

What the he!! is a RSS? I'll admit, I haven't got a clue what you're talking about :shrug:

 

[vraiblonde]

What the he!! is a RSS?

RSS is a way to syndicate your web content so that other sites can pick up your headlines and place them on their own site OR regular users can see fresh headlines from a particular website.

For instance, we include RSS feeds in our News section - http://www.somd.com/news/national/index.php. Those articles on the right are generated by an RSS feed from the New York Times website. Click on one of the headlnes and you go to their site to read the whole story. It's a good traffic builder.

I guess for regular users, like me, you would have a piece of software that reads RSS feeds. Then you subscribe to various feeds from other online sources and you can see all the headlines of all the sources in one venue, instead of going to each and every website.

^Tox, is that right?^

 

[Toxick]

What the he!! is a RSS? I'll admit, I haven't got a clue what you're talking about :shrug:

Really Simple Syndication.

or

Rich Site Summary

It's basically an XML file which contains items and each item has several bits of info attached, like a description, a title, a date/time, and a hyperlink to the referenced item.



For instance, Yahoo has a metric assload of news articles on their website. They provide an "RSS feed" (an XML file) which lists each of those articles, their information, and a link back to the article on the Yahoo website.

An RSS reader is a program (or script) which translates that XML file into lists and displays the information in a reader friendly format.

Hope that made sense.

If not, read this

 

[Toxick]

I guess for regular users, like me, you would have a piece of software that reads RSS feeds. Then you subscribe to various feeds from other online sources and you can see all the headlines of all the sources in one venue, instead of going to each and every website.

^Tox, is that right?^

Quite so...
My response was a lot more geeky and technical in nature. I think your explanation is better.

 

[Tomcat]

Thank you both

 

[vraiblonde]

My response was a lot more geeky and technical in nature. I think your explanation is better.

That's because I'm not a technical person - just a random dummy.