For some people, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way of life. For others, it’s just another acronym that they kind of/mostly/pretty much understand. In part 4 of our screencast series on Nuts About Southwest 2.0, Eric discusses RSS basics using examples from the various feeds on the Nuts About Southwest site.
And don’t worry, I’ll be back around next time. Enjoy!
Nuts About Southwest part 4 - RSS Feeds
Other screencasts in this series:
Last night I set up RSS feed reader software (which I personally like better than a web-based reader) on my computer at home.
At work I’m on a Mac, but my heart remains with that little Dell desktop waiting for me in my bedroom when I come home after a long day.
Off to find a PC RSS reader, I stumble across (err… use Technorati to find) two options. Eeny-meeny-miny-moe, and I download the 30-day trial of Feed Demon at 7:45 PM. It says it’s the most popular PC RSS reader. Here goes nothing.
Setup is no big deal, but I don’t know if I love the interface. I like to see the full entry (including pictures), not have to be sent to the site to see it. Why do you think I installed a feed reader when I have a browser with a bookmark function?
Also, once I read entries it deletes them completely. I don’t know if I like that, especially when I’m parusing flickr pictures over and over (or obsessive-compulsively checking how my own site looks in the reader every ten minutes).
Then, the test. Will my OPML file from the Mac import easily?
I think I did something wrong. It’s not recognizing the .opml file as a .opml file. Or maybe it’s blank. Either way, I add a few feeds by hand and elect to try sending it again from work tomorrow.
8:00 PM - Fifteen minutes later and I give up. I’ll try again tomorrow. …sigh.
Suggestions to help me find the PC feed reader of my dreams are more than welcome.
On another note, RSSOwl is closing on its own more and more frequently. It seems anytime I navigate away from the pure text form of a post, within a minute or so RSSOwl has some sort of issue. The major annoyance is that it loses the data of what I read during my session. When I open it back up, everything remains unread. Not enough for me to give up on it just yet, especially if it means giving up that wonderful interface.
I wrote a post on RSS feeds a few weeks ago. That post included chiefly secondary data (that’s marketing major speak for information I didn’t originally collect for myself). The following is an account of my personal adventure navigating RSS feeds:
Sunday night I had a dream that I lived in my house in College Station (as I do for about 9 months of the year when I’m at school), except it wasn’t my house. It was an underground house with not much above surface level but the front porch. In the dream, it’s Monday morning and I am heading out of my subterranean bedroom, up the staircase (with the ground and porch at eye level), but this crazy owl is furiously attacking the front door. There is no back door, as the house is underground, so I can’t leave. I am frazzled because this big brown bird is going to make me late for work …at RD2 …in Dallas (I guess my subconscious isn’t stellar at geography). The offensive owl is going crazy, throwing itself at the porch irately and clawing everything in sight.
Monday morning, I was introduced to RSSOwl.
Far less offensive than the aforementioned owl, RSSOwl seems to fit very well as my first reader. The interface is easy to navigate. Reading newsfeeds and following links is a breeze. It takes a little longer than I would expect to load feeds, but no dramatic issues.
I have experienced a few minor problems: (more…)
RSS (which stands for “Really Simple Syndication�) is a way of syndicating content that is in a news-like form. Virtually any information that can be divided into distinct articles can be syndicated through RSS.
Feeds can then be read through “news aggregators”, software programs that retrieve syndicated content. RSS is becoming more and more prevalent as a way for Bloggers to release syndicated content. A news aggregator allows users to see recent content (articles, news, Blog entries, etc.) from their selected feeds.
These feeds can be accessed online and offline, allowing customers to read a website’s content without even seeing its design. Content is a primary driver of RD2 design; it is imperative that the content be able to stand alone in such an environment.
The typical RSS user profile is a college-educated male, age 18-34, with an above-average household income. In August of 2005 11% of all people reading weblogs were using RSS to manage content. Now, almost 10 months later, the number is presumably much higher.
What does it mean for web design?
RSS makes us think about design differently. Many people reading updated content on a site will never see the design, only content. Thus, the content must become an integral component of design. It must be able to stand alone and make meaningful sense to the RSS feed viewer.
We had a discussion recently about how a designer’s problem is not “How do we make it look good?� but “How do we communicate the message in a clever way?� At RD2, we strive to maximize a site’s audience: whether its content is accessed by RSS feeds, on a handheld device, a text reader, or a traditional web browser, the message needs to prevail.