RSS? Go on, learn me!
Discussion
So what's RSS?
I keep reading and seeing it on sites like the BBC and other sites talking about "RSS feeds".
How does that work then? What software/"News Reader" do I need? (Microshite XP) Which one works best? I've tried reading the blurb, but I think I need to wander round Holland with a hangover to understand it, 'cos it all seems double dutch to me....
I keep reading and seeing it on sites like the BBC and other sites talking about "RSS feeds".
How does that work then? What software/"News Reader" do I need? (Microshite XP) Which one works best? I've tried reading the blurb, but I think I need to wander round Holland with a hangover to understand it, 'cos it all seems double dutch to me....
beano500 said:
So what's RSS?
I keep reading and seeing it on sites like the BBC and other sites talking about "RSS feeds".
How does that work then? What software/"News Reader" do I need? (Microshite XP) Which one works best? I've tried reading the blurb, but I think I need to wander round Holland with a hangover to understand it, 'cos it all seems double dutch to me....
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Simply, it is an XML-based system for publishing data. In case you're not familiar with XML it is essentially self-dsecribing data so a piece of information is usually enclosed in two tags which describe what it is, e.g.:
< name >Richard< /name >
Going back to RSS, if the BBC has 10 stories on it's website, it can provide 10 RSS summaries, say a headline and short description of the story. Subscribers to the RSS 'feed' can then download these summaries with a URL to the main story. This allows you to quickly skim read the headlines and then click on one to open the full story on the BBC website.
I recommend using the Mozilla Firefox browser and adding the Sage RSS plug-in. That is the set-up I use and it works really well.
I hope this helps - sorry I haven't been hugely descriptive but I don't have much time.
Cheers.
roadie.
To read them you need something like Sharpreader or Mozilla Thunderbird offers a simple reader much like email, or as suggested earlier Sage with Firefox (although I've never got this to work).
Basically it means you can use an program that presents news stories to you in a format that looks like incoming email. So instead of visiting 10 sites in your lunch hour, you scan all the RSS headlines in your reader and then go read the stories that interest you.
PH now provices RSS feeds for it's major news channels as well as in the classifieds section. In the classifieds you can even do a search (e.g. Alfas + Lancias for £8000-£12000) and then subscribe to the RSS on the results page). You then get a 'headline' in your RSS reader every time we add a new car fitting those criteria.
Basically it means you can use an program that presents news stories to you in a format that looks like incoming email. So instead of visiting 10 sites in your lunch hour, you scan all the RSS headlines in your reader and then go read the stories that interest you.
PH now provices RSS feeds for it's major news channels as well as in the classifieds section. In the classifieds you can even do a search (e.g. Alfas + Lancias for £8000-£12000) and then subscribe to the RSS on the results page). You then get a 'headline' in your RSS reader every time we add a new car fitting those criteria.
PetrolTed said:
PH now provices RSS feeds for it's major news channels as well as in the classifieds section. In the classifieds you can even do a search (e.g. Alfas + Lancias for £8000-£12000) and then subscribe to the RSS on the results page). You then get a 'headline' in your RSS reader every time we add a new car fitting those criteria.
Hi Ted
That's actually something I didn't know PH offered and had been considering suggesting to you but I know your 'new features' suggestions list must be massive having been in a similar position so I didn't bother.
I've just had a look on the home page but I can't see an RSS link there - how do I subscribe?
I like the idea of RSS feeds for the classifieds and have another suggestion if I may?
You may recall that I suggested a 'recs' system whereby PHers can recommend a thread for reading, but there is no opposite system for giving a thumbs down. That would then allow you to list 'Top 10 Most Recommended Threads/News Articles' or similar and keep a league table of most recs for authors, both of which would encourage quality content. It would also allow you the opportunity of creating an RSS feed for top 10 most recommended content as doing it for all threads would obviously be impractical. I would expect that this would encourage visitors to the site because they would be less likely to miss the best threads and would be pretty much guaranteed reading a quality one that interests them based on the description (maybe the first couple of lines of the starting post?)
Interesting idea Roadsweeper, particularly in the context of RSS.
RSS feeds are available at
www.pistonheads.com/news/
www.pistonheads.com/lotus/
www.pistonheads.com/tvr/
www.pistonheads.com/porsche/
www.pistonheads.com/noble/
Still in its infancy and as you say, something on the home page would make sense.
RSS feeds are available at
www.pistonheads.com/news/
www.pistonheads.com/lotus/
www.pistonheads.com/tvr/
www.pistonheads.com/porsche/
www.pistonheads.com/noble/
Still in its infancy and as you say, something on the home page would make sense.
No idea what "Sage" is, but the latest version of Firefox takes RSS feeds to provide "live bookmarks". If I visit the BBC news front page (for example), I get an icon on the bottom right of my Firefox window. Clicking on this gives me "live bookmarks" for the page, taken from their RSS feed.
Basically, I get a BBC news folder added to my bookmarks, and under this is a constantly updated list of links to the stories on the front page, displayed as a list of titles. The Register (IT news website) works in the same way.
I found that the Firefox updater didn't give me this - had to install the latest version from a download.
Dan
Basically, I get a BBC news folder added to my bookmarks, and under this is a constantly updated list of links to the stories on the front page, displayed as a list of titles. The Register (IT news website) works in the same way.
I found that the Firefox updater didn't give me this - had to install the latest version from a download.
Dan
DanL said:
No idea what "Sage" is, but the latest version of Firefox takes RSS feeds to provide "live bookmarks". If I visit the BBC news front page (for example), I get an icon on the bottom right of my Firefox window. Clicking on this gives me "live bookmarks" for the page, taken from their RSS feed.
Basically, I get a BBC news folder added to my bookmarks, and under this is a constantly updated list of links to the stories on the front page, displayed as a list of titles. The Register (IT news website) works in the same way.
I found that the Firefox updater didn't give me this - had to install the latest version from a download.
Dan
Yup, this was added to Firefox as you say. Sage is a specialist extension and offers a bit more functionality and useability (IMO).
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