The letters "RSS" stand for, alternatively, "really simple syndication," "RDF site summary," or "rich site summary." (Doesn't much matter which.) RSS enables the user to view a summary of updates for a web site. This provides a quick and easy way to see if the content on that site has been updated. Clearly, RSS feeds are well-suited for blogs, and they also work nicely for any site where content is updated periodically. For a summary of RSS, and its history, check out the wikipedia article on RSS.

RSS feeds at tuscanycircle.net

If you're reading this on tuscanycircle.net right now, have a look at the address bar in your browser. You will probably see an orange icon with white markings on the right side of the address bar. That is the RSS icon, and it indicates that the site you are currently browsing (in this case, tuscanycircle.net) has at least one RSS feed available. This icon is the best way to know whether a site has an RSS feed available.

Browse to tuscanycircle.net (of course, if you're reading this, then you're probably already there), and click on that icon. You will see a drop-down menu that lists all the RSS feeds supported by tuscanycircle.net. As of this writing, there are three: "All nodes," "All comments," and "Shoutbox." The "All nodes" feed lists all of the articles that appear on the main page of the blog. "All comments" provides a listing of all the comments that are posted to blog entries, listed by date of post. This is especially handy, because it lets you know when a comment is posted, even if it is posted to an article that appeared a long time ago. The third feed, "Shoutbox," lists the entries in the tuscanycircle shoutbox, which provides timely news and updates.

RSS readers

There are a number of different tools which can be used to organize RSS feeds. Such tools are known as "RSS readers," "feed readers," or "aggregators." This tutorial will cover three different reader tools: Firefox Live Bookmarks, Sage (a Firefox extension), and Google's aggregator.

(As an aside, the astute reader will note that the first two readers require the use of the Firefox web browser. The Google aggregator can be used with any browser, but Firefox makes it very straightforward to use it. One might get the impression that the Firefox browser is being recommended. One would be correct. It is powerful, versatile, significantly more secure than Internet Explorer, and -- best of all -- it is free. You can download it here. Of course, RSS feeds work with any browser, and later versions of IE make it reasonably easy to use them, but this tutorial will not cover that.)

Firefox Live Bookmarks

Firefox enables RSS feeds to be incorporated into its "Bookmarks" menu. This is referred to as "Live Bookmarks" because, unlike ordinary bookmarks, the content of "Live" bookmarks can change dynamically. Subscribing to feeds using Live Bookmarks is very straightforward. I will use tuscanycircle.net as an example, but you can do this with any site that supports an RSS feed.

Point your browser to tuscanycircle.net and click on the RSS icon. Select "All nodes" from the drop-down menu. This brings up a page that lists a summary of all the "All nodes" items, in chronological order. At the top of the page, there is a menu that lets you "subscribe" to this feed. Part of the menu is a selector box. Select "Live Bookmarks" in the selector box, if it isn't already displayed. Now, click on the "Subscribe Now" button. This will show a popup that enables you to change the default location within the "Bookmarks" heirarchy. Don't worry about that right now (you can always change it later) -- just click OK.

You have now subscribed to an RSS feed. To access it, start by clicking on the "Bookmarks" menu at the top of the Firefox window. Next, click on the "Bookmarks Toolbar Folder" pull-right menu. You should see one or more pull-right menus as a result, and one of them should display "TuscanyCircle - "I am the vine." That is the RSS feed menu you just created. When you click on that menu, you will see a list of the titles of the most recent articles that have been posted to tuscanycircle.net. If you click on one of the titles, you will navigate directly to the page for that article.

The live bookmarks listing will update automatically over time, picking up new articles that appear on the site. If you don't want to wait for the automatic update, you can right-click on one of the live bookmark feeds and select "Reload Live Bookmark" to update the list manually.

Sage Extension for Firefox

Another method for accessing RSS feeds using Firefox is to install the Sage extension. The main downside of Sage is that it is a bit more difficult (though not prohibitively so) to subscribe to feeds. However, once you get past that hurdle, it has some nice features.

In order to use Sage, you must first install it. You do this by going to this link and clicking on the "click here to install" link. (You may need to enable installs from sage.mozdev.org, but Firefox will show you how to do that.) After you install Sage, you will need to restart Firefox to activate it.

After the restart, you will notice a new icon just to the left of the address bar that looks like a small green leaf. That is the Sage icon, and clicking it will bring up the Sage window, which is located on the left side of the Firefox window. There will probably be some default feeds already loaded, and you can do what you want with those. However, the main point is to add feeds, so let's look at how to do that.

Unfortunately, although Sage is a Firefox extension, you have to subscribe to feeds manually. To do this, start once again by browsing to tuscanycircle.net, clicking on the RSS icon, and selecting "Subscribe to 'All nodes'." You will see the "subscribe" dialog. At this point, you need to manually select the URL in the address bar and copy it to the clipboard. To do this, just right-click on the address and select "copy." (The URL is probably going to be 'http://tuscanycircle.net/node/feed', but Wayne may change it; just copy what's there.)

Now, open the Sage window if it isn't already open, click on the "Options" pulldown, and select "Manage Feed List." This will bring up a dialog box that displays a list of the active feeds. In the dialog, click on the "New Bookmark" icon. This will bring up yet another dialog where you will enter the properties of the feed. The text of the "Name" field will be highlighted, so enter the name of the Bookmark. I suggest a descriptive name, like "Tuscanycircle - All Nodes," but you can call it whatever you like. Then, in the "Location" field, paste the URL that you copied before. (Just right-click in the field and select "paste.") That's all you need to do -- hit the "OK" button, and the bookmark will be loaded.

Now, you may notice in the Sage window that some of the feeds are displayed in bold, and some are not. Sage uses the bold font to highlight the feeds that have unread content. Now, click on the tuscanycircle feed you just created. In the bottom part of the Sage window, you will see the titles of the most recent 30 articles posted to tuscanycircle.net. (The feed only supports the most recent 30 articles.) Most or all of them will probably be displayed in bold, though any you have accessed directly will show up in normal font. Also, you will notice that Sage has changed your Firefox window to display summaries of the articles, and links to each one. You can click on an article title in the Sage window, or you can use the Firefox window Sage displays, to access the articles directly.

The highlighting is the feature of Sage that I like best, because it lets me see at a glance which feeds have been updated since I last checked. As for updating, if you leave the Sage window open, it will update periodically on its own. However, if you prefer not to leave it open (as I do), you can click on the update icon (the blue icon with the rotating arrows) to update manually.

There are a couple of disadvantages to both Live Bookmarks and the Sage reader. First, they both require the Firefox browser. (Actually, I don't consider that a disadvantage, but I understand that some people might.) More significantly, both of these readers are tied to a specific computer. If, like me, you browse the web at home as well as at work, you will need to manage RSS feeds in both places. Using the Google RSS reader addresses both of these disadvantages.

Google RSS Reader

Google provides a number of online services, and one of them is an RSS reader. You can use it with any browser, and you can get to your feeds from any computer that is connected to the internet. Not only that, but Firefox makes it very easy to subscribe to feeds using the Google reader. (I will only cover subscriptions with Firefox.)

In order to use Google's reader, you will need an account with Google. If you don't already have one, you can create one by clicking here. There is no cost involved, and the account includes an email address, calendar, photo sharing, a document editor, and (of course) an RSS reader. (I should add a disclaimer to the effect that, while these services are very nice and handy, especially considering that they are free, Google as a company has some policies that I disagree with. I do use some of their services myself, but you may not want to.)

Once you have established your account, return to tuscanycircle.net (again, using Firefox). To subscribe to a feed, you begin the same way you started with Live Bookmarks: click on the RSS icon, and select "All nodes" from the drop-down menu. In the dialog that appears, change the selector box so that it reads "Google," and click "Subscribe Now." This will display a window that allows you to choose whether to display the feed on your google home page or on your RSS aggregator page. This tutorial only covers the latter (though you are certainly welcome to explore displaying the feed on your google home page), so click on the button labeled "Add to Google Reader."

This will take you to Google's RSS reader web application. On the left side of the window is a list of the feeds you have subscribed to, which probably just shows "Tuscanycircle - I am the vine" at present. It should be selected by default. On the right side of the window is a list of the titles of recent articles. If you click on a title, it will expand into a box containing part, or all, of the content of the article. If the content is too big for the box, there will be a link to the complete article on the tuscanycircle site. The feeds update periodically, picking up content that has been added to the sites you have subscribed to. Like the Sage extension, Google's reader shows new content in bold type, so you can quickly see if there are new articles you haven't read yet.

Comparison and Summary

There are pros and cons to each of these tools, which can be summarized as follows.

Live Bookmarks

Pros: Easy to subscribe to feeds, simple to use, data resides on local computer.
Cons: Requires Firefox browser, feeds must be maintained separately on different computers, no special highlighting for unread content.

Sage Extension for Firefox

Pros: Simple to use, provides visual indication for unread content, data resides on local computer.
Cons: Requires Firefox browser, feeds maintained separately on different computers, slightly more complicated subscription process.

Google Reader

Pros: Easy to subscribe to feeds, reader available from any computer that is connected to the internet.
Cons: Data resides on server, where it is theoretically accessible by others, and unavailable if the server goes down.

Regardless of the reader you choose, RSS is a valuable tool for blogs, news, and other sites where content is updated periodically. If you have any comments or suggestions to improve this tutorial, please let me or Wayne know.