RSS News Feeds
The Voice offers its headlines for personal, non-commercial use via Really Simple Syndication. RSS is an XML based format for easily sharing news headlines and summaries for use in your favorite news readers and blogs. The feeds include links back to The Voice for the news stories, and they update automatically.
To use RSS, you will need a special RSS news reader or aggregator that will allow you to collect and display the RSS content. Most news readers are applications that you download and install. Others are web based services you sign up for which work inside your browser.
MS Internet Explorer 7 or FireFox have built in RSS news feed readers.
What Is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." At the heart of the technology is special Web coding, called XML, that has been widely developed by the global online community over the past few years.
The XML code for RSS describes a new type of Web information called a "news feed." Essentially, the feeds can contain a summary and links of the new content on a Web site or anything else a creator desires to share.
Anyone — an online surfer or another Web site — can pick up the RSS codes and with the appropriate Web software, display the information automatically.
The concept is similar to how a newswire service operates: Information published by one news organization can be "syndicated" — picked up and displayed — by any other news organization.
Why Would Ordinary Web Users Like RSS?
For Web surfers, the advantages of RSS are quite simple: They save time and bandwidth.
Instead of remembering to visit a favorite Web site, the news comes directly into your computer daily or at whatever interval you want.
What’s more, most RSS feeds contain just links, headlines, or brief synopsis of new information only. That means the small amount of Web data can be sent to any XML-compatible device — a cell phone, pager, or handheld computer — without a lengthy download process.
What Do I Need to Receive RSS Feeds?
First, you need a so-called feed reader. Performing a search for "RSS Feed Readers" in any major online search engine such as Google.com or Yahoo! will produce a slew of software options — many of which are free or at little cost. MS Internet Explorer 7 or FireFox have built in RSS news feed readers.
Once you’ve obtained a feed reader, subscribing to an RSS feed is as simple as looking for the appropriate XML code. Most Web sites that publish an RSS feed will display a tiny orange box or button labeled "RSS" or "XML."
Click the button and your Web browser typically goes to a page of cryptic code. Just copy the Web "address" or URL of that page and paste it into your feed reader. The software will then automatically retrieve and display that site’s latest information.
Google Search for Feed Readers
• SharpReader
• FeedReader
• NewsGator
• RSS Bandit
• NetNewsWire for Macintosh computers
• Internet Explorer 7 includes an RSS reader and delivers the feeds to your Favorites Center.
• FireFox – Add Live Bookmark