About RSS news feeds

A really simple introduction to RSS

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication."

An RSS feed is really just a Web page designed to be read by computers.
- An RSS feed's contents look nearly like gibberish to the average human.
- Older browsers, including Internet Explorer 6, may show you this gibberish when you click on an RSS feed link.
- But RSS feeds make perfect sense to a special kind of software - an RSS reader.

You can use an RSS reader or "news aggregator" to receive updates from Web sites.
- RSS is good for keeping up with news, blogs, daily specials at some online stores ... anywhere where information changes a lot and an RSS feed is available.
- If your favorite 20 Web pages have RSS feeds, you can set up an RSS reader to check them for updates.
- Then, instead of visiting all 20 pages, you can open your RSS reader and find just the new bits from all of those pages, collected in one spot.

There are several kinds of RSS readers.
- You can set up an online service at a Web site and have it collect feeds for you.
- Or you can download a standalone computer program built for your operating system.
- There are thousands of RSS readers and services. We've listed a few at the bottom of this page.

If you're interested in using an RSS reader, read on!

What does an RSS feed look like?

Our site uses the widely adopted square orange icon with "waves" emanating from the lower left corner ( ) to identify RSS feeds. The icon is followed by a link to an RSS file.

How do I start using RSS feeds?

To get started, you'll need an RSS reader. There are many such readers to choose from. Some are downloadable programs while others are Web-based services that you can access using a browser. Most RSS readers are free.

After you've chosen a reader, you can start using it to follow RSS feeds. You may be able to subscribe to a feed by pasting the link into your RSS reader, or by dragging the link or the orange RSS icon into your reader. Consult your reader's instructions and help files.

Newer versions of most browsers check Web pages to see if they offer any RSS feeds, and if they find one, they'll display an RSS icon somewhere. Your browser's help files and Web site can tell you more about this convenient feature.

What RSS readers are available?

A quick search of the internet in June, 2008, produced the following list of RSS readers.

INCLUSION OF A PRODUCT OR SERVICE IN THE FOLLOWING LIST SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS AN ENDORSEMENT OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE CITY OF BLOOMINGTON NOR BY ANY EMPLOYEE THEREOF.

There are literally thousands of RSS readers, so search around a little online and perform some due diligence before choosing one.

These services are accessed via your Web browser:

Bloglines
FeedZilla
Google Reader
Live.com
NewsGator
Microsoft Live
Netvibes
NewsGator Online
Pluck
My Yahoo! Reader

These browsers have some built-in RSS functionality:

Internet Explorer 7
Mozilla Firefox 2
Opera 9
Safari 3

These programs can be installed on Windows:

Awasu PE
BlogExpress
Blog Navigator
FeedDemon
Microsoft Outlook 2007
Mozilla Thunderbird
NewzCrawler
Omea Reader
RSS Bandit
SharpReader

These programs can be installed on Mac OS X:

Apple Mail
Cyndicate
Mozilla Thunderbird
NetNewsWire
NewsFire
NewsLife
Pheeder
PixelNews
Shrook
Vienna

These programs can be installed on Linux:

Akregator
Blam
Bottom Feeder
Eclipse RSS Reader
Liferea
Mozilla Thunderbird
Raggle
Rawdog
Straw
Syndigator

Will Bloomington expand its use of RSS?

We are just "dipping our toes into the pool" as far as adding RSS to the site. We welcome your comments and your suggestions about where you'd like to see RSS feeds on our site. Your input will help us evaluate how to proceed with RSS.

For more information, contact:

Jan Norbeck, Webmaster
1800 W. Old Shakopee Road, Bloomington MN 55431
PH: 952-563-4929, FAX: 952-563-8715, TTY: 952-563-8740
E-mail: webmaster@ci.bloomington.mn.us