Blogs, blogging and RSS feeds

Help! what is a blog and what is an RSS feed?

And how will they change my life?

I'm not going to talk too much about blogs per se except to say that they are a phenomenon that has been silently growing on the internet for a number of years now, and that you don't have to be the greatest genius of all time to predict that they are going to cross the chasm sometime in 2004. Very very briefly, a blog is essentially a web page where someone writes their ideas, thoughts, opinions on a particular subject on a fairly regular basis - ideally daily. So what?, you might ask, as I did until embarassingly recently, when I discovered the delights of owning an RSS newsreader application. Read on....

Any blog worth its salt is not just available in HTML viewable on a browser, but also as RSS viewable using an RSS newsreader. I really don't want to go into any technical details here, as this was always the point where my own eyes used to glaze over, but what this means is that every time the author of the blog adds a new entry, a sort of headline version of this entry becomes available through the magic of RSS. If you have subscribed (and don't get scared by that word - no money is involved!)to the RSS feed with your newsreader, then when you ask it to go and check if there's anything new at the blogs you like to read, then it will give you this headline, and maybe a few lines of content. You can then decide whether you want to go and read the new posting at the actual blog. For busy people who want to keep up to date with developments in a particular area of interest this is the greatest productivity boon since, dare I say it, sliced bread.

But none of this got me too excited until I actually started doing it myself. So here's a very quick tutorial that will hopefully get you started.

RSS tutorial

1. Think of something you're interested in reading about

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that since you are here you're interested in finding resources and staying up to date with what's happening in standards based web development.

2. Get yourself an RSS newsreader application

As you might guess there are a lot of these about, so if you want to do your own research take a look at download.com or tucows. But here's my two suggestions.

Windows - FeedDemon is the most popular, and while I haven't used it myself it certainly looks to be a nifty little application.
Mac OS X - NetNewsWire. I love this application. Easy to use, totally intuitive interface, does what it says it will do. 'nuff said.

Find some blogs to subscribe to

Let's start with one, shall we?, and what better choice than my very own, redemption through standards. See below for some tips for finding more blogs in your area of interest.

This is something that can be a little tricky to the uninitiated, but don't panic as my quick and dirty explanation and inside tips will have you reading the news in no time. As I mentioned above, newsreaders don't actually read HTML documents, rather, they suck in and present to you what's called an RSS feed. This is a kind of summary of the entries at the blog, marked up using RSS, an application of XML. So, you need to find where this summary is and put this URL into your newsreader. If the blog provides an RSS feed (and any good one should) you'll find a link to it somewhere at the blog - but this link can be presented in a number of ways. Here are some of the magic words and icons to look out for.

Syndicate this Site (XML) - find this at redemption through standards at the bottom of the right hand column
Subscribe
XML
the XML button:
RSS Feed

Once you find one of these, copy the link location then go back to your newsreader application. Then it's simply a matter of finding the subscribe menu item or button and pasting this URL into the subsequent dialog.

Start reading

Once you subscribe to an RSS feed your newsreader will probably automatically go and get all the headlines from that blog. From then on you can ask it at any time to refresh the news, which means it will go and see if there is anything new. I don't want to go into too much application specific detail here but any newsreader will have a way of showing you which blogs have new stories, which stories you haven't read and so on. You should also be able to click on links in the headlines to open the actual blog entry in your web browser.

How do I find the blogs I want to read?

OK, so you've got the news pouring in from redemption through standards, but we all know what happens when you only get your news from a single source, so you'll want to add in some other voices to make things really interesting. Here's where the community-nature of bloggers really is your friend. For a start, bloggers love to read other blogs and make reference to them in their own entries. So once you start reading one blog, take the time to follow the links in the stories and you're sure to find other gems. The quick way to get a lot of blogs into your newsreader though is to work through the blogroll at a blog you like. A blogroll is, you guessed it, a list of blogs that the creator of the blog you are reading respects and likes to read themselves. Now, not all of them will be 100% on topic, but a lot of them will be, so you'll probably find more than enough to get you started using this technique. Indeed, can I blow my own trumpet one last time and say that the blogroll at redemption through standards (in the right hand column) is thoroughly on topic and therefore a great place to start collecting standards based web development blogs.

What are you waiting for?

That's the long and short of it folks. Hopefully you are about to enter a whole new world of hour after hour staring at a computer screen in search of the only thing that matters: knowledge. Well, apart from Honey Baked Ham Kettle Chips of course.....