Triona's Tech Tips

My technology column in this weekend’s Northwest Herald talks about how you can use Web feeds to organize information from Web sites and blogs. Web feeds (also called RSS feeds) allow you to organize content, much as you do with your email. For example, if you wanted to subscribe to the Web feed for this blog, you’d click on the orange RSS icon in the upper right corner of this blog, which will prompt you to bookmark the feed in your Web browser. A Web feed address looks similar to this.

http://www.guidryconsulting.com/techtips/feed/

Many email programs such as Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird also have Web feed capabilities, although personally I prefer news software like FeedDemon for Windows or NetNewsWire for Mac. Or, you can use Google Reader which is web-based and works on both Windows and Mac.

When you access your news software you’ll see which Web feeds have updated content, and when you click on a feed you’ll see the name, date and excerpt of recent articles, as if each one were an email message. You can mark articles as read or flag them to read later. Here’s what it looks like in FeedDemon.

Web feeds are most often used to advertise blog content. So if you run a blog, be sure to include a link to the feed so people can subscribe. Most common blog platforms like Blogger and WordPress automatically set up a feed when you create your blog.

People sometimes ask me what is the point of Web feeds, and why would anyone want to use them? Feeds make following Web sites and blogs as easy as checking your email. It’s also a great timesaver. Instead of visiting each site directly, you can consolidate them in one place and see at a glance the articles you want to read. Web feeds have become the option of choice for people who want to keep up with current events, which is why they’re offered by most magazines and newspapers.