What is RSS?
I want to explain to all you non computer nerds what RSS is and what it can do for you with-out being too technical. What is RSS? It is a real simple story.
This probably sounds familiar; Honey, I’ll be right back! I’m just taking a quick peek at my favourite sites. And before you know it you’re sitting behind your computer for hours. So many sites and so many blogs to see and so little time, well that’s going to end right here!
RSS is a great tool that can make your online life much easier and with this you’ll be able to see much more of your interests than ever before. The technical acronym for RSS is “Really Simple Syndication”, an XML format that was created to syndicate news, and by means to share content on the web. This makes sense to nerds and tech geeks but most of us are lost from here by simply reading this. So, to make this a little easier, imagine this; you have 10 sites and 10 blogs that you like to visit every day. If you visit all these online places, this would literally take you hours. Well here comes the beauty, with RSS this would only take minutes. RSS is a way to get a quick list of all the latest stories that are placed on all your favourite websites and blogs. There are in general two types of RSS feeds (subscriptions). The first is the headline feed that only shows you the headline (isn’t it simple???) and directs you to the site where the item can be seen. The second is the full feed that shows you the complete post or news item. Most of the up-to-date and new sites are providing a full RSS feeds and this is the same for The World of Modern Woman. Can everybody use this? It doesn’t matter what system you have, everyone can subscribe on a RSS feed. The only thing you need is an RSS reader that gathers all the headlines or posts so you can read these feeds. I will tell you more about the readers in a couple of minutes. There’s nothing simpler than subscribing to a RSS feed. With subscribing you simply ask the website or blog to send you their news updates. It’s just like a magazine or newspaper but only now with the advantage that you can stop the subscription at any moment by just deleting the account. What do I need to do if I want to subscribe? All you have to do in order to subscribe is click the RSS 
icon or the XML 
icon. If you use Firefox or IE 7, you’ll see the RSS icon in the top right corner of your browser. Most sites are also having a larger icon somewhere in the right (or left) sidebar. I would advice to use this button so you’re certain that you have the right feed. If you click this button than the RSS feed appears that you need to copy in to your RSS reader. I’m not sure of this but I believe that IE 7 copies the link directly in de build in RSS reader. I have IE banned from my systems, I’m in love with the free Firefox browser and all his plug-ins. If you don’t use Firefox, get it now and play around with it; you’ll be amazed with the possibilities. Okay, let’s do this! I’m working with Outlook 2007 but I paid for my office suite (you’ll only need to pay for it if you want a legit version 
, you can easily download it from the net). I prefer Outlook over other readers because I want my RSS feeds close to and well organized like my e-mails. If you are also working with Outlook 2007 than copy the feed and go to Tools -> Account Settings -> RSS Feeds -> New -> Right Click -> Paste -> OK and you’re done. Here’s a screenshot… 
There are several free readers around that are pretty easy in use. My favourite is the online Google Reader. If you copied the feed, go to Add subscription -> Right Click -> Paste -> Add and you’re ready for action. 
The last free desktop reader that I want to talk to you about is RSS Bandit. First you’ll need to download it; you can do that by clicking here. Than start the installation and just follow the instructions like you normally would (you might need to install Microsoft .NET framework, no need to worry though, just select the right download for your system and follow the instructions). Once installed, open RSS Bandit and copy the feed by clicking the RSS icon in your browser. Than Click New -> Next -> Right Click -> Paste -> Click “next” until you completed the installation and Voila. 
I hope you like this blog because it’s now time to put all this reading into action. The World of Modern Woman uses a full feed and you can subscribe to us by pressing one of the orange RSS buttons. This can be the one in the header or the one in your browser if you use Firefox or IE 7. Than select your on- or offline reader and complete the steps that we talked about. And that’s it; I hope you learned something from this RSS tutorial and that you’ll enjoy our feed and working with RSS feeds in general. Have fun guys!! Cheers Vincent Sparreboom PS. Don’t forget; if you liked this tutorial please bookmark us with the buttons below.
