What is RSS?
RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication, or Rich Site Summary, depending on whom you ask. What everyone agrees on is that RSS is an easy way to gather content from web sites and have it delivered to your computer. An RSS "feed" is a file containing summaries of stories and news posted at a specific web site, and the feed changes every time news is updated or new stories are posted. If you subscribe to an RSS feed, links to the updated content are automatically delivered directly to your computer.
Several sections of the Middlebury web site offer RSS feeds, including News & Events, Athletics, the Public Affairs press release pages, even the Dining Services site — wherever you see the orange RSS logo. And we’re adding more feeds all the time.
Why do I want it?
Most of us have lots of web sites that we visit regularly, ranging from news and blogs to sports and stocks. With RSS, instead of returning to these sites to see if anything's new, you subscribe to a feed that sends you a summary of new content, with links to the updated stories. RSS keeps you current, and you're in control, since you decide what you want to see.
How do I get it?
There are a number of ways to access RSS feeds. If you are a user of the Firefox web browser, the browser has a built-in RSS feature. Any time Firefox comes across a web page with RSS feeds, it will show an orange icon in the address bar (the white space where you type in a web address). Click on that icon to subscribe to the RSS feeds, which will appear in your Firefox Bookmarks.
A similar feature is available with Internet Explorer 7, which displays an orange RSS icon in its toolbar when it detects a news feed. Click on the icon to display the feed and subscribe to it. Earlier versions of IE do not have this feature.
Even if your browser does not handle RSS feeds, there are numerous ways to subscribe:
- You can install a news reader program on your computer. After they're installed, some news readers automatically find feeds if you just tell them which sites to search. All readers allow you to add news feeds manually. In Internet Explorer for Windows, the easiest way is to right click on the RSS button at the selected web site, select Copy Shortcut, and then paste the URL into the feed reader’s “add a feed” window.
- An alternative to downloading a dedicated news reader is to use a web-based reader. My Yahoo! or My AOL users can now add RSS feeds directly to their personal pages. Bloglines is another frequently used web-based reader.
Some free RSS readers: