DigiDigest

Information overload!

How to manage your website browsing more effectively with RSS

As an Internet Development Specialist (rough translation, GEEK) I read a lot about this wonderful place we call the interweb. A lot of which is delivered over the web. Everything from current affairs to gadget news fills my reading material and I am both better and worse off because of it.

Clients often ask me how I wade through all the content that is out there and I commonly tell them that although I read the latest content from hundreds of websites each week I very rarely actually visit the sites…

Content is king, they say, but what happens when you have information overload? Browsing the web can be a great way of finding new information. However we normally browse a very constrained number of websites that fall in our areas of interest and we trust. We find ourselves revisiting the same sites to find out what has been updated. Often there is nothing new and on we go to the next site.

To use an analogy we are channel surfing without a TV guide when we visit sites to see if anything has changed.

You could be searching for a long time before you find something interesting, new and above all relevant in your bookmarks via your browser. Information overload with nothing new learnt. TV with only ads and reruns…

RSS or Really Simple Syndication has been around for years (1995 in it earliest form) - almost as long as the commercially accessible web. However the benefits to us common folk has only really being jumped upon in more recent history due to the amount of content available and the accessibility of RSS. Now most  browsers, email software and productivity suites (Office for example) manage RSS feeds in some way, shape or form.

But what is it and how does it help me I hear you say.

Well put simply RSS allows you to subscribe to feeds from websites that have the option, and pull down fresh content as it is delivered by the sites. This fresh content is sorted in a RSS listing view that allows you to glace over your feeds and see what is new without visiting the websites directly. Depending on the application you use to manage your RSS (I use MS Outlook RSS feeds) unread updates will be highlighted so you can tell what is new.

How do you get started?

Well first, get a RSS application. You most like already have this but do not know it. As I stated earlier most browsers now a days deal with RSS directly. For example here is how Firefox does it.

If a website has an RSS feed it will show in the address bar with the RSS icon (orange and white icon which has been widely adopted to denote RSS)

Clicking on in will bring up the RSS bookmark subscribe option allowing you to save it to you bookmarks like you would any other site.

The real difference of course is now as the site content is updated so will the RSS feeds! Titles are shown for each new article so you can read only the stories that are of interest to you and avoid wading through those that are not.
So avoid information overload, browse your sites smarter not harder and sign up to RSS feeds!

While you are at it sign up to our feeds by clicking on the icon in the top right, we will keep you posted!

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