How do I start using RSS?

A feed reader is an application known as an aggregator or news aggregator that retrieves syndicated content that is supplied in the form of a web feed (usually in the formats of RSS, Atom or javascript formats). RSS readers allow you to display and subscribe to the RSS feeds you want. These readers can either be Standalone or Plug-in.

• Standalone readers are applications that run in the
  background on your desktop and automatically update your
  subscribed feeds.
• Plug-in readers work within one of your existing programs
  such as Microsoft Outlook, Firefox or Internet Explorer.

There are a variety of RSS readers available. To the right we have suggested some you may like to try out.

(Please note that NEWS.com.au does not endorse or support these readers)

Subscribing to an RSS Feed

To subscribe to NEWS.com.au headlines, right click on one of the channels with the icon, and select "Copy Shortcut" "Copy Link Location" to copy the location (URL) of the service. Paste this location into the appropriate channel of your news reader by following the instructions within that application.

Another method is to click on a feed link to open in a new window, select the URL in the address bar and copy and paste it into your feed reader.

Once you have subscribed to the RSS feeds that you want, your RSS reader will automatically update with the latest news.

The feed reader will present you with easy-to-browse headlines and short summaries, including links to the full article. You can see what's new, and read only the articles that interest you.

Publishing Feeds to Your Site (for Webmasters or Publishers)

• Using Javascript
  

  You can easily republish our headlines in your own website without needing to know anything about RSS using our Javascript includes.

  Previewing one of our feeds (clicking on the feed name will take you to the view/download page for that feed) displays the javascript URL for that feed. Just add that to the HTML of your website where you would like the headlines to appear and our headlines will be automatically loaded and displayed.

• Parsing the XML to HTML for publication
  

  If you are a little more comfortable with coding there are lots of parsing tools available to allow you to ingest the feed and republish this in your own site's content management system.

You may want to start your search for any help you need at www.feeddigest.com