New to RSS

[jaycee33]

I am trying to learn about RSS, am I correct in thinking that only a surfer with an RSS Reader can make use of any RSS feeds they may find. Therefore isn't it going to be some considerable time before the average web surfer can make use of this means of accessing info? At the moment it would seem to be only for those who have greater than average technical knowledge and ability. If I mention the term RSS to people, even those who are actively using the web in their business, I just get blank reactions!

[dcheney]

Yep, that's pretty much the state of things at the moment. But I've found that more and more users and taking advantage of the RSS feed I added to my main site. That file is now the 3rd most requested on the site.

[gethan]

They may not know they are using the technology.

Firefox incorporates - live bookmarks - loaded from RSS files

Yahoo! - has an add to my Yahoo - from RSS feeds

Numerous news aggregators produce there pages from these feeds as well.

[jaycee33]

Thanks for the quick replies. So Firefox and My Yahoo have RSS readers built in? But does this mean that if you click on the yellow(?) RSS Feeds button on a site, the feeds are shown if you are using FireFox? and does this also work with My Yahoo?

I have downloaded BlogExpress but if I click on an RSS Feed button on a site whilst in Exporer or Navigator I just get a XML page. To see the Feed I have to copy the Feed link to BlogExpress to see it. Am I doing something wrong?

[gethan]

I don't know anything about Blog Express - but have a play with firefox - that's very easy to see the results of a live bookmark.

[apw420]

Firefox gives you a little orange icon in the bottom right of the browser. If you click it once, it'll pop up a box giving yout the option to subscribe to that sites RSS feed...then it files it into your bookmarks.

I use FeedReader and it's a pretty good application, but Firefox really makes it simple by just putting it in your bookmarks -- which makes it easiest for the common surfer.

Adam