We
could go into technical terms here, but there's
enough of that all over the web (Wikipedia, Google's
Feedburner). Instead, let me offer my
none-tech version.
Your Simple Mailbox
An RSS feed aggregator
is like a mail box. You either register for a
web-based aggregator, for free (like BlogLines), or download a
browser-based aggregator (like FireFox's
Sage).
Your Simple Mail
Now that you got your
mailbox set up, all you have to do is have someone
send you something!
In order to have something sent to your RSS
aggregator, you need to subscribe to RSS.
Where can you find RSS?
Mostly you'll find RSS in blogs.
How do you know if you're at a
blog?
You're right. Today it's hard to tell if you're at
a blog or just a plain, good old fashion site. So
instead of inquiring to the site's blogginess, I
suggest you look for an Icon similar to this:
Be aware it could come in many different colors and
shapes:
Once you find this icon (don't worry it's usually
very visible), you click on it, and you'll probably
be taken to a page like this:
All you have to do is click on the aggregator of
your choice and you're done. By clicking the
agreggator button, you've asked the site to send
you updates to your RSS mailbox. From now on, every
time you view your RSS mailbox, you'll get updates
from the site.
What do I need this RSS mailbox for?
This
is a personal matter. I used to get e-mail
newsletters to my e-mail, every day. It was a mess-
I'm sure you can imagine. Some things arn't that
urgent, but are still important to me. So I like to
direct that type of information to my separate RSS
mailbox.
If you're still not sure what the hell I'm talking
about, here's my favorite explanation:
