What Is RSS?

Sleepydust's RSS Feed :        

Hi! Claire here, from Sleepydust.

Lately, I've been seeing orange RSS or XML buttons more and more, not knowing what they were. So I decided to look into it.

Wow!

It's "the next big thing" -- you can use it to get newsfeeds from CNN or BBC, as well as just about anything else, including news on upcoming movies, DVD releases, your favorite band's tour updates, etc.

Once you get started, it's like having your favorite parts of the Web come to you. No need to go out and check for updates all the time.

No more bookmarks for me!

"RSS" means "Really Simple Syndication." But that is just a fancy way of saying that you can keep up with all the updates to sleepydust.net without having to check the site every week to see "what's new". Here's what Sleepydust releases through RSS:

• Some of the latest news about ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia;
  
  
• Annoucements of new videos, audios, web pages, or sections on the Sleepydust, or updates to existing pages;
  
  
• Announcements of new personal stories, experiences, and insights by ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia sufferers;
  
  
• 'Sneak previews' of sections that are not yet online.

As a result...

There are so many helpful, interesting and inspirational things in Sleepydust. People love "stumbling" upon those pages. They later write to tell me that they found it extremely useful or interesting. Now, there's no need to "stumble" upon them...

I can share them with you from time to time through RSS. This gives you our "latest, secret and best of Sleepydust" without you having to spend hours on the site.

Yes, RSS is amazing. If you can't tell, I'm completely addicted to it. No e-mail. No spam. It's so easy to subscribe and unsubscribe. If you get tired of Sleepydust <SOB>, you just have to delete the feed. It's fab!

And once you start, you'll soon be tracking all your other favorite interests and news in the world.

How do you get started? Easy ...

Adding An RSS Feed To Your 'My Google' Page

If you've never used RSS before, don't worry - here's an example:

At this time, I recommend using Google's 'My Google' page (http://www.google.com/ig) to read your RSS Feeds because it's so easy to use.

Before You Begin:
In order to use 'MyGoogle' you need to have a google account/gmail address (it's free). If you already have an account then please skip this part, but if not, then here's what to do...

When you get to the 'MyGoogle' page, click on the 'Sign In' link (top right hand corner). Then click on the link that says 'Create an account now'. Come back here when you've finished the sign-up process, and I'll show you how to add RSS feeds to your 'MyGoogle' page...

Let's try adding the Sleepydust Newspaper's RSS feed to your 'My Google' page...

1. Login to your 'My Google' page: http://www.google.com/ig

2. Click on the 'add stuff' link, on the far right.

3. You'll be taken to a page that will have a search blox along the top, with a button that says 'Search Homepage Content'.   This is a quick way of subscribing to a site's RSS feed but in my experience, it doesn't always work. Instead, try this:

 i) Click on the link on the far right that says 'Add by URL'

4. Now go back to Sleepydust Newspaper homepage (http://www.sleepydust.info/ ) to get the RSS feed URL. On the right hand side you'll see some buttons. One is an orange button that says 'RSS Feed' beside it. Another says 'Add To Google'.  

 i) Orange 'RSS Feed' button: Most sites have this button so it's best to know how to use it. Just right click your mouse over the RSS button, and click 'Copy Shortcut' ("Copy Link Location" for Mac.)

5. Go back to your 'MyGoogle' page [step 3 (i)]. Paste that URL into the grey 'Add By URL' box. You can paste stuff by pressing CTRL+V (or APPLE+V on Mac). Then press the 'Add' button.

6. If you are successful, this should appear below:

Added: http://www.sleepydust.info/feed/

7. The Sleepydust Newspaper feed should now be visible for you to see in you're 'MyGoogle' homepage: http://www.google.com/ig

SIDENOTE: In Step 4 I also showed you a button that says 'Add To Google'. This is much quicker to use but not all sites have it. But if you do spot it, here's how to subscribe using the 'Add To Google' button:

1. Click on the 'Add to Google' button on Sleepydust (or whatever site you're on)

2. An 'Add To Google' page comes up. Click 'add to google homepage'.

3. And voila – it takes you straight back to your 'MyGoogle' homepage, with your new RSS feed already added.

And that's it! You're subscribed.

Now, every time the Sleepydust RSS feed is updated with the latest news, you'll be able to view it on your 'MyGoogle' page.

Other RSS Services

There are loads of other RSS readers and RSS services too. For example, instead of using 'MyGoogle', you may choose to use Yahoo or MSN's RSS services to read your RSS feeds instead. It all depends on which service you prefer (all three are free and there are lots of other services and RSS reader software out there too.)

You can subscribe to Sleepydust's RSS feed directly on Yahoo, MSN, and Google, by clicking directly on the buttons here...

Category: What Is RSS?

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