RSS Feeds

What is RSS and how do I use it?

If you already know how to do that, find the available feeds to the left. If you've heard the term and want to make sure you know what it really means at the next cocktail party, fear not, that's what we're here for. Keep reading.

What is RSS?

Really Simple Syndication. See how many people at the party know that one. RSS feeds are an easy way for you to keep updated on websites you like. Rather than going from website to website, you can have content from a bunch of cool websites (like this one) come to you. All in one place. Think of it as internet room service, without having to leave a tip.

wtopnews.com offers RSS feeds (or channels) for most news sections (see links on the left). That means that instead of having to come to our website (I can't believe I just said that), the headlines from any given news section will come to you. Cool, huh?

What tools do I need to use RSS?

To start using RSS, all you need is a piece of software, easily downloadable, often free. The software is called an RSS Reader and if you do a Google search for that term you will come up with 207,000,000 links. (Think I'm making that up? Try it.)

So you download one of the 207,000,000 options out there and install it on your computer. (Parents, check with your children if you are having trouble with this part.)

Once you have your RSS Reader up and running, you can begin subscribing to RSS Feeds being offered by cool websites like this one.

OK, I installed the software. Now how do I do that thing you just said about subscribing?

Easy. Look for some button that says "Add" or "Add Feed" or "New". Click that and you'll probably see a field where it wants you to paste in a url (that long line of code that starts with http://). Paste in the url of the feed you want. Done.

What? What url? Where do I get that? What's a url anyways?

Uniform Resource Locator, but that's for another cocktail party.

OK, we need to back up a bit. Before you can actually start using your shiny new RSS Reader, you need to decide which sections of which cool websites (like this one) you want to subscribe to.

So let's say you would like to have the headlines from the wtopnews.com Local News page delivered right to you. Click on the Local News link up there on the left, the one with the orange XML button. (Extensible Markup Language. Cocktail ca-ching!) Click on that (or this) and come back real quick. I'll wait.

Scary, wasn't it? Bunch of gibberish nonsense that only the computer guy who shows up whenever there is cake in the office could possibly understand.

That doesnt even look like a web page. Because it's not. And you really don't even need it all. What you DO need is the url. That's the line up there in the address bar that starts with http://. In the case of WTOP's Local News page, it's "http://www.wtopnews.com/xml/25.rss".

Hightlight that and copy it (Ctrl+C for you Windows users).

NOW you can paste it (Ctrl+V for you Windows users) into that place in the RSS Reader. Click "OK" or whatever and ding, ding, ding, watch the headlines from the Local News page come rushing right into your reader. Awesome, dude!

That's it. You're an RSS user. Browse through the headlines, if you see one that interests you, click on it and it should open the web page.

Why am I doing this? Why not just visit the web page?

Well, of course you could. But the real power of RSS is in it's ability to aggregate content from many websites. I know, why would anyone want to visit any other website besides wtopnews.com? Good question and we are investigating. But our research has shown that there are a significant number of you out there who sometimes visit other websites. On occasion.

Subscribe to feeds from these sites too, and voila, all your favorites come right to you in one place.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Most RSS Readers automatically refresh, probably once an hour. If you snoop around your options, you likely will be able to set the refresh rate. Or you can refresh on your own, meaning you can tell the Reader, "Hey, room service. Go get me some more headlines, please. Yeah, I know I just ate some a half hour ago, but I think there might be some new ones. Bring 'em on. And a pot of coffee, too!"

More help

If you still want to research this a little more, check out some of these links. If you still can't figure it out, order some cake for your office, and corner the computer guy when he shows up.

Wikipedia: Really Simple Syndication
About.com: RSS: How and What?
BBC: Another Pretty Good Explanation

Oh, one more thing

You've heard of podcasting, right? Same thing. Except instead of getting links to web pages delivered to you, you get links to mp3 files delivered to you. Like calling the room service and ordering the lobster instead of the steak. It's still room service, you just get a different item from the menu. More on podcasting here, and below.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting
iPodder.org: http://www.ipodder.org/
How to Get (And Make Your Own Podcasts): http://www.engadget.com/