What is RSS?

RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication'. It allows you to select content you like on a site and have it delivered to you electronically.

Using RSS you can have the latest news and updates delivered directly to you, rather than clicking from site to site.

• How to use RSS feeds
• What you need to view RSS
• RSS terms and conditions
• Further information

How to use RSS feeds

To view RSS feeds you need something called a news reader. There are many different versions of these, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications. All allow you to display and subscribe to the RSS feeds you want.

Once you have chosen a feed reader, you can begin to subscribe to the RSS feeds. Copy the news feed (or drag and drop the RSS button) into the newsreader.

The feed reader you choose will have full details on how to do this.

• Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want. For example, if you would like the Haringey latest news feed, visit the home page and you will notice an orange RSS button below the news headlines. This is the link to an xml file containing our latest news stories (www.haringey.gov.uk/rss_news).
• You can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including dragging the URL of the RSS feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader.

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What you need to view RSS

News readers

There are many downloadable news readers available. Many are free of charge and more are appearing all the time. Here are some of the popular ones:

Windows

• Guardian Unlimited NewsPoint (external link)
• Newz Crawler (external link)
• FeedDemon (external link)
• Awasu (external link)

MacOs X

• Newsfire (external link)
• NetNewsWire (external link)

Web browsers

You can also view feeds if you have an RSS enabled web browser.

Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer version 7, have functionality which automatically picks up RSS feeds for you. For more details on these, please check their websites.

Online RSS reader services

Alternatively, you can sign up to an online service such as:

• Bloglines (external link)
• My Yahoo! (external link)
• Netvibes (external link)
• NewsGator (external link)

For a fuller list of what’s available try searching Google for RSS news readers (external link).

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Terms and conditions

By using our web feeds, you are deemed to have read and accepted our terms and conditions of use.

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Further information

For more detail about RSS visit the following websites:

• RSS specification at Harvard University (external link)
• Wikipedia's RSS article (external link).

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