RSS/Atom Feeds and How to use them
It was pointed out to me that not everyone is aware about RSS/Atom Feeds, so I thought I should write something just to introduce you to them.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and ATOM (Atom Syndication Format and Atom Publishing Protocol) are both types of XML feeds. ATOM is a completely separate branch of RSS designed to create a better standard for XML feeds, and ATOM is relatively new. RSS is more common, but ATOM has started to catch up and is (probably) the better option if you have the choice between RSS and ATOM.
Feeds are based on XML, which was created to make the exchange of information on the internet easier and cleaner. XML is used as a way of storing content, just content, no formatting or information on how to display the information. That is why if you look at an XML feed, it should just be plain text with hyperlinks and images. This separation of content and formatting allowed XML feeds to take off. Every site that deals with lots of content, like blogs, news sites, etc, will use XML, and so creating a feed from that XML is simple. Feeds mean that you can obtain all the information in text format and view it how you like.
So how can you take advantage of feeds. Well one way is to use a feed reader program, or feed aggregator. A feed reader may already be present in your e-mail client, eg Mozilla Thunderbird has one, or you may have a separate program for handling them, I use SharpReader for unimportant feeds, and I like it’s notification features. [ If you have trouble working with SharpReader and how to get it going, leave a comment and I'll make a guide, since their site doesn't always make things clear.] If you use the same machine then local feed readers are a very good way of keeping up to date with all the things that interest you. Plus all the feeds will be downloaded to your machine to read at your leisure. The other way of using feeds is to use iGoogle. Now I haven’t long been using iGoogle, but it is better for me than a feed reader program, plus I’m always online. I’ve found myself changing pc’s a bit and so can’t rely on having feeds on one machine. I set iGoogle as my browser homepage, so I start with a Google search bar, and then under that, some tabs that I have created with all the feeds that interest me, so wherever I am, I can log in and check the latest from my feeds. Both options are easy to set up, so choose one that suits you best.
Feeds are usually updated shortly after the content is added to the feed, and you can set how often your feed reader will check for updates. There are also desktop widgets and applications that can notify you when your feeds have been updated.
When you are on a site look out for the 
which means that feeds are available. Mozilla Firefox will tell you when feeds exist for a website that you are on by showing that icon in the address bar. Internet Explorer 7 will show the icon on the bar underneath the address bar.
The feed for this blog, is here it’s blog posts only, but do keep checking back here, as pages keep getting created too.
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