What is RSS?

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It's an easy way to distribute update notices, short news to a wide number of people. Computer programs organize these notices for easy reading.

Benefits

RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web.

• It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in.
• You save time by not needing to visit each site individually.
• You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site's email newsletter.

How does it work?

• The author of the website maintains a list of notifications on their website in a standard way. This list is called an "RSS Feed".
• People who are interested in finding out the latest changes can check this list.
• RSS feeds can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader", or "aggregator", which can be
• web-based: Netvibes, Google Reader, My Yahoo
• desktop-based: browsers like Mozilla Firefox from version 2.0 (see Live Bookmarks), Opera (see Newsfeeds), Internet Explorer from version 7, Apple Safari, Konqueror; email clients like Mozilla Thunderbird (see RSS accounts); programs like a Google Desktop Gadget, RssReader, Feedreader
• mobile device
• or any computerized Internet-connected device
• The programs can be set for each feed to a certain interval to update the feeds.

What information does RSS provide?

RSS provides very basic information to do its notification. It is made up of a list of items presented in order from newest to oldest. Each item usually consists of full or summarized text, a link to the web page, plus additional data such as publishing date.