What is RSS?
RSS allows you to see when sites from all over the internet have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and articles (or even audio files, photographs or video) in one place, as soon as they are published, without having to remember to visit each site every day.
It takes the hassle out of staying up-to-date, by showing you the very latest information that you are interested in.
RSS feeds are just a special kind of web page, designed to be read by computers rather than people. It might help think of them as the free, internet version of the old-fashioned ticker-tape news wire machines.
How do I start using RSS feeds?
In general, the first thing you need is something called a news reader. This is a piece of software that checks RSS feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added to them.
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 then you just need to add our RSS feed to it.
You will notice an orange RSS button under the menu on every page - this links to the feed. You can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the RSS feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader.
How do I get a news reader?
There is a range of different news readers available and new versions are appearing all the time.
Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer.
You can find a list of the most popular news readers at the Google Directory.
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RS UK Press Centre
