Web feeds for Mummies

# Posted by Joel Dixon at 18/09/2007 13:52:23

For Dummies

I'm not indicating that Mummies are dummies, just working the pun

I've just added a link to my web feed on my home page, so I thought I'd give a quick overview of web feeds for those that may enjoy using them.

The quick and basic summary - if you want to be notified when this site is updated (or other sites that provide syndication), click the

button, choose to "Add to Google Reader", follow the prompts and visit the Google Reader site whenever you're on the Internet.

Unlike television shows, most websites have content that is updated in a sporadic nature. In the early days of the Internet, an audience member that wanted to keep track of a website's content would either have to check the site each day, or subscribe to a newsletter-type mailing list. The website owner would then send emails whenever content was updated (or whenever they wanted, really).

There were a few problems with this method. Firstly, you need to give the website author your email address. Many a spam list have been created from people signing up to newsletters. Secondly, some scrupulous site owners would ignore an unsubscribe request (such as a crappy Java News site I sign up up for in the early days of my web experience) and continue sending you unsolicited emails. Another problem is that email is not the best technology to keep track of website changes, and all the update notifications would quickly cause a messy inbox.

Web feeds are designed to keep you up to date with website content, without filling your inbox with useless emails. A web feed is provided by various website owners to allow its users to track the changes to their content. Every time I add or edit a blog entry on this website, I also update an XML file that contains my last 20 blog posts. By keeping track of this XML file, you can keep track of the changes. Thankfully, there are useful programs that can keep track of this XML file for you.

Feed Readers or Aggregators are used to keep track of these XML files, and notify you of changes. They are very helpful - instead of visiting 20 websites a day and trying to remember which posts you have already read, a feed reader can provide you a list of the new / edited posts on those 20 sites which occurred since the last time you checked. Feed readers can either be client applications - a Windows program that can be used offline, or web applications - a website that you can (generally) only access your content while connected to the Internet.

A client feed reader will check for updated web feeds whenever the user is connected to the Internet. When it finds changes it will download the new file and store it on your computer. This means that you can choose to disconnect from the internet after your feeds have been updated before reading through them (this was more important when dial up internet access was more common). Some examples of popular client Feed Readers are FeedDemon and SharpReader. Other software such as email clients (Outlook and Thunderbird) and web browsers (Firefox and IE 7) also provide offline feed reading modules. A big limitation of an offline feed reader is that all of your content is stored on the one PC (unless you have syncronisation software), and you must be at that one PC to read through the latest changes.

FeedDemon screen shot (click image for full size)

A somewhat newer concept is a web-based feed reader, accessible whenever you are connected to the Internet. The advantage of this method is that all of your content is stored online, and can be accessed from any computer (such as Internet cafes) connected to the net. Popular web-based feed readers include BlogLines, Netvibes and my personal favourite Google Reader. Google Reader also uses the Google Gears platform to allow you to download your unread feed items to your computer, to allow for offline reading of your latest content without an internet connection (such as while on a plane). Best of both worlds.

Google Reader screen shot (click image for full size)

I've been a big fan of web feeds for a while now - it helps me keep track of my hockey team, keep and eye on the tech world, check out cool gadgets and have a chuckle now and then.

# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Web
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Grixy Posts: 2	I get the hint! I have now subscribed to your RSS feed. You didn't need to post a whole blog entry on it just to get me to subscribe though # Posted - 17/10/2007 20:19:02
joeldixon Posts: 170	But you're not a mummy (it was aimed at my mum) Unless you are referring to those cute little kitties as your children - in which case - "Who's your Daddy?" (I am ... of the kitties). This comment makes sense, don't worry. # Posted - 17/10/2007 23:42:06 Last Edited - 18/10/2007 05:29:45

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Web feeds for Mummies

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