On the other hand, it can be difficult to include feeds not in their list. The advantage of these apps and sites is ease of selecting content sources that they have curated for you. These are often driven by RSS feeds and typically present options grouped by topic so that you can construct your own content collection. Numerous news syndication websites and apps are available, too. Many of these apps, like Feedly, have matching websites that you can use as well.
There are also applications for most PC platforms, including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. It’s worth checking out a few to find one that suits your needs-all RSS feed readers are not created equal. You will find hundreds of options for most platforms. Search for RSS feeds or news-feed readers in your favorite app store. Many email programs like Microsoft Outlook can capture RSS feeds.įor those on smartwatches, smartphones, and tablets, there are apps for RSS feeds. This has the advantage of collecting content from email sources as well as RSS feeds in one application and using the search and filtering features when looking for a particular type of content.ģ. 3) can capture RSS feeds and present them as email content. Many email programs like Microsoft’s Outlook (Fig. Opera’s default presentation presents the first image in the feed along with the title and summary. For example, Opera’s default presentation presents the first image in the feed along with the title and summary (Fig. The way RSS feeds are presented can be different and often customizable. You can check your browser’s support by viewing the URL of an RSS feed like that of Electronic Design ( ). It’s also a way to keep track of what new entries have yet to be read, which is important as the number of sources in your collection grows large. This is very useful when trying to quickly examine entries and not have to view the same entry multiple times.
RSS readers also typically keep track of what entries have been viewed as summaries or visited using a web browser. For many solutions, it’s possible to do this down to the feed.
Most RSS readers download the RSS feed contents the frequency and retention can be configured. The downside is that the searches will only examine titles and summary content. It’s often more useful than using search engines like Bing, Google, or Yahoo because the content that will be found is limited to that in the RSS feeds. Many readers support filtering and search capabilities. It’s an easy way to see trends and duplicate coverage. This list is usually organized by posting date, so you can quickly view the latest articles for numerous lists/websites. RSS reader support will at least present an individual feed as a single list, but it’s often more useful to see a collection of RSS feeds in a folder as a group. That’s why web-based RSS readers are often the easiest way to use RSS feeds. This may be sufficient enough for more investigation and the final task of displaying the source article in a web browser. Minimally, an entry will include a title and a summary it’s possible to simply view a list of titles. Typically, an RSS reader will let you customize how RSS feed entries are presented and collated. RSS feeds can be viewed in web browsers using plugins like Feedbro for Firefox (click on image for larger version).
The Opera web browser calls them Personal News.ġ. Most web browsers even have their own built-in RSS feed support, with many presenting and organizing content from RSS feeds into favorites or bookmarks folders. One I use with the Firefox browser is called Feedbro (Fig. However, instead of having a specific layout like a website, an RSS feed can be rendered in a variety of formats depending on the RSS reader being employed. In general, RSS feeds are streams of content that include a title and summary like that found on most website home pages. They’re also known as news feeds and other terms, but they all refer to the same general technology. RSS feeds, or Really Simple Syndication, are a way for websites to expose collections of articles on the site.
If not, then this article may help streamline how you gather news and information about any number of topics from engineering and software to food and gardening. If you know what an RSS or news feed is, then you might pick up a few tips here.
RSS feeds are one way to deal with the massive amount of information created daily. Staying abreast of content by visiting websites is next to impossible when done individually. Keeping up to date with all of the latest news and information is impossible these days, even with tools like Twitter, Facebook, or other social-media platforms. We hope that Electronic Design is a regular stop for keeping track of the electronics industry, but we’re only one of thousands of sources available through the internet.