Introduction to RSS Feeds
This is gonna be for the noobs. Once upon a time, I used to click on my own blogroll to visit, one by one, my friends whom I had linked up. Of course, not all sites had updates so I just closed the window. Meanwhile, some others had up to 5 new entries and often, I read only the latest. This was of course, before I learned to enjoy the convenience of RSS feeds. I’ve used all kinds of feed readers, including those you can install in your PC, those that are web-based, and those that are installed as an extension to your browser. I’m now a long-time user of Feedreader.
Blogs and online news websites have frequent updates that you can hardly keep up with, especially if you have more than 10 sites to follow. Thankfully, there’s something called RSS. All blogs and news sites allow you to subscribe to their RSS feeds, and you will need a feed reader in order to read them. RSS strips the site down to its bare content, therefore they are lightweight, simple and fast. No background images, advertisements (well, RSS ads are slowing creeping in nowadays though), and other irrelevant information that are not related to the content.
Basically, you receive only the updated content; that is to say, only the text and images of the latest entry. Each time when there is an update, you will be automatically alerted via RSS, so you won’t miss it. For sites which have not been updated, there will be no alerts, so you don’t have to waste time visiting them. This is definitely more efficient than manually checking a site for updates.
Narrowband’s Feed Subscriptions
Basically whatever you see in my blogroll, is whatever I’m subscribed to. The list is identical, except for a few who requested not to have their blog linked up. For those cases, I prefix the feed’s name with a hash (#) in my feedreader.
Normally, when I go around bloghopping, I don’t subscribe to new feeds on first-time visits. But when I chance upon the site again two or three more times (usually via PPS), then I’d add it into my Feedreader. But, it will be prefixed with a hash, unless I decide to link it up in my blogroll as well.
I know most of my readers are subscribed to my feeds. For those who’re not, it’s time you hopped onto the bandwagon feedwagon. I’ve put up a big RSS button in my sidebar, in case you can’t find my feed URL (copy the URL and paste it into your feed reader!). With RSS feeds, keeping up with your favorite blogs couldn’t be easier.
24 Jun 2007 narrowband
So, have you done a comparison, which one picks up the updates yang paling cepat??
Me use Bloglines & Google Reader. Bloglines picks your blog punye update the cepat-est! :p
*kiasu is me*
:p
Anyway, terima kasih cikgu…
This would’ve been useful if it was posted 2-3 months ago! :P No offence.
Still, I also wanna ask the question angel did: which is the fastest?? Haha. Even if it’s not Google Reader I don’t think I have the energy to re-subscribe everything is that reader. I have far too many subscriptions. Hehe.
Btw, how come I cannot subscribe to certain blogs? Care to enlighten me? THanks.
Ah, kepada murid yg bernama angel, sadly I dun use Google’s. I pernah use Bloglines before but then still went back to Feedreader cos I lazy to open browser and masuk Bloglines ;p With Feedreader, I only need to launch the program.
As for which is fastest, I don’t dare to say, because when I was using Bloglines, sometimes it was very slow. So much so that when I visited an ‘updated’ entry, there were already at least 3 comments!
But as for Feedreader, you can actually set your feedreader to update at any time interval (up to 1 minute! Means it updates by every minute!).
Day-dreamer - Well then, recommend this article to others who might still be behind time! :D For most applications, you can actually export all your feeds list (Export/Import OPML), and bring it over to another feed reader. So you don’t actually need to re-add all your subscriptions one by one.
As for the speed, refer to my response to angel’s.
So far I had only one such experience: not being able to subscribe to a certain feed. In most cases, you can actually ‘guess’ the feed URL. Depending on the blogging platform (Movable Type, Wordpress, Livejournal, Xanga, Blogger, etc), their feed URL is quite standardized. They all follow a certain ‘pattern’ (try Google for it). You sure you got the right URL? Hehe.
I used to be a user of Feedreader until Google Reader came up. Don’t you hate it when your Feedreader crashes and it has to load/update ALL the feeds all over again?
Google reader is just nice, as its integrated with Gmail and stuffs. Best of all, web based. Down side is that it detects updates rather slowly, could be up to 4-5 hours later, like yours now at 1.26AM.
you’re on my RSS
I used Thunderbird before but update is so slow. Now I’m using Google Reader. Even though it’s quite slow but at least one thing is cun. You don’t have to guess the url feed. All you need to do is add the person’s blog address and Google will look it up and load for you. Weeee!
Jason - My Feedreader tak pernah crash leh.. so far so good :D But yea, if it crashes frequently then I would get frustrated too.
Wuching - I’m on your are a$s as$? hehe. Thanks for subscribing!
Che-cheh - Ya I used Thunderbird before too, as Gmail manager (several gmail accounts) and feed reader. But I didn’t like it at all (both the Gmail manager and also the feed manager). Then I discovered the Gmail Manager add-on for Firefox - works wonderfully. I don’t need Thunderbird anymore.
Wow Google reader that good huh!! No wonder I get alotta hits via Google reader!!
Cikgu cikgu… apa itu Gmail Manager??
Google Reader updates .com or .org or .net slower than Bloglines! ;)
I use Bloglines, and I have no problems with it, whether it’s picking up feeds at the blink of an eye, or whether it takes a couple of hours because I don’t sit in front of my PC all day long. So even it Bloglines picked your feeds immediately, I’d only get to read it at night, LOL.
BTW, I think Bloglines is FAST :)
I used SharpReader until I started working and couldn’t install any software on my office PC. So now I’m using Bloglines for the convenience - Google Reader was simply too slow for me. And lazy me decided that I can stick to using Bloglines at home as well so that I don’t have to wade thru two readers.
p.s. I’m subscribed to your feed on Bloglines! *grin*
I really like a new feed reader called illumio (www.illumio.com). It actually prioritizes all your RSS feed articles for you based on your interests, so you can just look at the updated RSS articles that are most relevant to you. Downside: it’s a download that only works on Windows.
Angel - Gmail manager is basically Gmail Notifier lah. But then hor, the original Gmail Notifier couldn’t handle more than one Gmail account ma. I have three active Gmail accounts used for different purposes :p So, a Gmail manager add-on for Firefox comes in handy! Eh, .com, .org, and .net is practically *most* of the WWW liao lor!
Pelf - Yeah after hearing so many positive comments about Bloglines, I believe it’s fast too!
Rinnah - It’s wise to use a web-based one if you access it both from home and at work. Google Reader not healthy for the THHC rite… hehe. Thanks for subscribing!
Jason K - Thanks for sharing it here with us. I should really check it out, cuz it does sound different!
censored = porn? :P