A close look at RSS feeds

Keeping track of changes to your favourite websites can be overwhelming, and finding the news stories that matter to you can be a challenge. You don't have to spend all day bouncing from site to site, though.

Many popular websites, blogs and news organisations use a system that lets you read their pages without having to visit each one in person. This is known as an RSS feed, and depending on which version a site uses, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary.

Even if you only visit a few sites every week, it's worth getting to grips with RSS as it also notifies you when there is something new to see on a site.

RSS uses a language called XML to keep tabs on sites. It is not necessary to understand how it works but it is important to recognise the phrase, as feeds on some websites are labelled as XML. You may also see some feeds labelled as Atom newsfeeds, which is the new kid on the block.

To access pages included in an RSS feed you will need software called a newsreader. Even though feeds are created in different formats, a newsreader such as NewsGator can handle all of them.

You will need to choose a username and password and agree to the terms and conditions for the site. These are fairly standard and simply state that NewsGator is not responsible for content downloaded while using the service.

NewsGator offers instant links to some popular website feeds to get new users started. Sign up for as many as you like by clicking on the checkbox next to its name. Cancelling the feed later is easy and if nothing takes your fancy, there is a much larger selection of news sources on the main website.

If you signed up for any news sources during registration, these will appear in the left-hand column of the browser window. New stories from a website can be viewed by clicking on that source's link. However, if you click on a link to view the full story, you are taken away from the NewsGator page.

Remember to click on the Internet Explorer Back button to return to the NewsGator page. Alternatively, you could right-click on the link for a news story and choose 'Open in New Window' from the menu that appears. If you want to add another news source from NewsGator's massive collection, click on the Add Feeds link above your list of current feeds.

You now have two options for finding a news source. First, click on a matching category from the list and continue to choose from sub-categories until you come to the feed you are looking for. Or type a word or phrase into the search box below the list and click on Go.

Both search methods will eventually present a list of possible news feeds. To add one or more of them to your NewsGator account, click on the Subscribe links to the right of the links.

Many websites have an obvious link to the news feed, usually a small orange button labelled RSS. Clicking on this leads to the web address for that feed, so it can be manually added to your newsreader.

You will notice that this site has a simple button marked RSS that will add our latest news to NewsGator automatically. Click on this button and then the NewsGator button that appears to add this site to your list.

However, it is also simple to add it manually. Make a note of the web address beneath the NewsGator button for the feed and return to NewsGator. Click on the Add Feeds link and in the list of sections running across the page, click on the URL & Import tab and type the address for the RSS feed into the white box. Click on the Add Feed button and it should appear in the list of feeds when the following page loads.

View the list of news sources at any time by clicking on the 'NewsGator manager' tab. If you no longer want to receive a particular news feed, click on the icon that looks like a cross at the far right of the list. This is the delete button and it removes that source from the list completely.

However, it's important to note that you don't get a confirmation box asking if you really want to delete it - it just disappears from the list.