Using RSS: Get automatic blog updates!

As much as I'm sure you love the distraction from whatever it is you're doing to see if I've posted some new content on the blog, there IS an easier way! RSS! Don't be scared, it's really simple, and I'll explain in detail what RSS is and how to use it. If you don't understand it, it's probably my oversight: please comment and I'll do my best to clarify (or google for somebody who already has :) ).

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It even has simple in the definition. RSS allows you to get updates from whatever sites you choose (that have RSS 'feeds'), in one central location, which is updated automatically whenever new content is posted to those sites. The Google Reader (more to come on this) tour calls it an "inbox for the web." This makes it ideal for getting blog updates, among other things.

Why would I want this? Well, for one, it will save you time, and what's more important than your time? Let's pretend that the post office didn't exist. To check if you had mail, you'd have to go to everybody's houses that you could possibly get mail from. Not possible. Instead, there's a central place where you go to send and receive mail, the post office. I suppose I could've used a less antiquitous example, like email and your inbox, but it's the same thing. A centralized place where you get information. In the case of RSS, that information is content from the web, that you've asked for.

Now, you can't just have every page on the internet sending information to a central server that you go to and check. You'd spend years just doing through a day's worth of content. Enter RSS. RSS uses what are called "feeds" (or "web feeds") to allow people to get automatic content updates from whatever sites offer them on the web.; for example, this blog (*hint hint*). All you have to do is subscribe to the 'feed' from a particular site, using an RSS client.

RSS clients come in many shapes and sizes. Explaining them in detail is beyond the scope of this blog entry, and has been done countless times (just search for RSS client in google if you want to know about them). I've only ever used one, because I only use it to get updates from a few blogs, and it does exactly what I need it to do. Google reader. It's free, fast, simple to use, and it's google, so it's not going anywhere. I didn't even need to "sign up" to use it, because I already have a google account (which you do too if you use gmail, and tsk tsk if you don't). I just simply went to the site (http://reader.google.com/) and started adding feeds from the sites I wanted to get updates from (ie/ http://jonathanbeer.blogspot.com/). It took me less than 30 seconds to get started. You can do it!

Now, I just go to that site, and I see all of the new content from all of the sites that I'm interested in. Brilliant. Of course, you could go one step further, and use a web portal (customizable home page displaying exactly what I want), so that you can have google.com (where most of us have our homepage set to :)) and the weather, and wikipedia, and google feeder, and your great aunts weaving webpage, or whatever you want, all displayed on the one page. But that's a whole other topic :)

After you start using RSS, you'll never go back.

Hope this helps.

Start today! Sign up for the RSS feed from my blog, so you can always get the latest updated content.

Step by step instructions on getting started with RSS using Google Reader

This 'tutorial' assumes you have a google account (most likely because you use gmail). If not, either sign up for one, or use another client.

1. Go to http://reader.google.com/
2. Sign in.
3. Click "Add subscription"
4. Enter "jonathanbeer.blogspot.com" in the popup window.

That's it. Using RSS for only a single blog isn't that useful, you could just go to the blog whenever you wanted to see if there was new content. RSS starts to save you time when you are checking multiple sources. So, to make this useful, you might want to enter another blog or website that you frequent to check for new information. I entered my sister's blog, http://angebeer.blogspot.com/ to check for new updates there too, as she's always got some crazy new story about her adventure in Indonesia (shameless plug, sure ;)) I simply go to http://reader.google.com/ (which of course I have bookmarked and placed on my google toolbar in Firefox and *shudder* Internet Explorer) and it shows me any new content (and old too!).

Now that you are 'in the know' about RSS, you'll start seeing the RSS feeds and seeing RSS icon on webpages; welcome to a new age of information syndication!

Hope this helps.