About Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
RSS feeds
This site now includes a dynamic RSS feed conforming to version 2.0 which will be updated at
least monthly on publication of the site newsletter and whenever major
new content, news or events are added.
What is an RSS feed?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a mechanism which
syndicates or publishes new or updated content of a website to users
who have registered to receive updates. Registration uses a
special program called a news reader or aggregator which is 'fed'
content details of sites to which the user has subscribed. When a user
subscribes to a site, the aggregator accepts 'feeds' and
notifies
the user of any changes. Users can then view
pages from
the subscribed site within their aggregator or visit the site to view
the page 'in situ'. The value of subscribing to RSS feeds is that it
avoids the requirement to actually visit a site of
interest
to view content - new / updated content for all subscribed
sites is visible directly within the aggregator.
How to obtain an
aggregator?
Aggregators are advertised on search engines, often the term news
or feed reader is used. In addition, recent versions of some browsers
such as Internet Explorer 7 or Mozilla Firefox version 2 provide a
facility to create news feeds directly within the browser thus avoiding
the need for additional software. If you wish to use
a
standalone aggregator, there are various websites where you can
download one for free - some examples are listed below..
How to find and get a
feed?
Sites with available feeds usually advertise them and by convention use
the icon
as an indicator of an available feed. A good
example
of a site which has multiple feeds available is the BBC News
site which has more information about RSS and a
large number of feeds available.
Obtaining the feed on this site
How to get the feed for a
general news aggregator
Drag the RSS icon
below to the feed or cut and paste the
URL of the feed into your aggregator. Do not attempt
to open within your browser directly.
http://www.greatbaddowonline.co.uk/270707RSS/270707rssfeed.xml
How to create
this site
feed in Internet Explorer 7
Click on the link above; IE 7 will open the feed automatically and show
the content headings.
Then click on "subscribe to this feed. A pop up will open which allows
you to change the name of the feed and/or its folder location.
Save the feed which will automatically be included in 'Favourites' from
where it can be opened in future.
Internet Explorer allows an open feed to be sorted by date, title or
author and to be filtered by the categories defined for each feed item.
 
How to create this site
feed in Mozilla Firefox 2
Click on the link above; Firefox will open the feed automatically and
show the content headings.
You may subscribe to the feed using either Firefox 'Live bookmarks' or
other nominated aggregators. If regularly using Firefox as
browser, it is recommended you use 'live bookmarks'.
Click on 'Subscribe now' and you will be asked to enter a name and
identifying folder for its location.
Thereafter an option is provided to open the bookmarked pages in
individual browser tabs.
Links to some common
readers
Sharpreader
SharpReader is an RSS/Atom Aggregator for Windows.
FeedDemon
Trial and paid for versions available from Newsgator. One
of the most popular for Windows.
NetNewsWire
Trial and paid versions from the same company as FeedDemon. This is a Mac version.
Also see:
My
Yahoo
Customisable and personalised pages from Yahoo.