About RSS

RSS -- or Real Simple Syndication -- feeds are being used increasingly by newspapers, weblogs, and education web sites to help you get their information delivered right to you. Getting started is fairly simple, especially because you may already be using a web browser or email client that can also serve as your RSS reader.

RSS feeds for teachers

• BBC Education: XML
• CNN — Headlines: XML
• CNN — Education: XML
• New York Times: XML
• New York Times — Education: XML

Learn more

Related pages

• A society in transition: An overview of social, economic, and cultural changes in the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Related topics

• Learn more about RSS and technology.

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Have you ever wondered what the little orange button that says "XML" on a web site does? You’ve probably seen it hundreds of times now, though you may never have paid it special attention. It’s usually nestled snugly in the bottom corner of a web page with other information about the site. If you ever dared click it, it might have tried to save a file to your computer, or it might have displayed a page of code that you couldn’t make heads or tails of.

Did you know that those buttons could save you lots of time if they appear on a site you visit frequently? The orange XML buttons, and their companions, the orange RSS buttons, are just two of the ways that a web site can tell you that it employs RSS, or Real Simple Syndication. It’s being used increasingly by newspapers, weblogs, and education web sites to help you get their information delivered right to you.

How RSS works

With a piece of software called an RSS reader (also sometimes known as an aggregator), you can subscribe to web sites that offer their content in RSS format. This content is known as a site’s "feed." Then, each time the web site is updated, the RSS reader will be notified. Instead of having to visit all your favorite websites to see if there’s new information, you can let your RSS reader visit the feeds and bring you the results.

Getting started is fairly simple, especially because you may already be using a web browser or email client that can also serve as your RSS reader. Mozilla Firefox (web browser) and Mozilla Thunderbird (email) have RSS capability built in. Many other good RSS readers, like FeedReader for PC and Net Newswire Light for Mac, can be downloaded onto your machine. Or, if you use several different computers, web sites like Bloglines will run the RSS reader software for you.

Once you have selected your RSS reader, then you’ll need to select the websites you want to read. Any website that updates its content is a good candidate, though not every website will offer RSS. Visit your favorites and look for links that say "XML" or "RSS." You’ll need to know the web address of the feed, which often ends in ".rdf" instead of the customary ".html." Insert the web address of the feed into your RSS reader, and you’ll be subscribed.

There are a number of potential applications for using RSS in the classroom, if you’re feeling bold. The simplest, however, is to subscribe to a few of your favorite sites, and see how running the RSS reader saves you time each day. It’s a technology trend built upon simplicity — in fact, "simple" is part of its name.