RSS Readers and a rainbow

I was talking to a friend the other day and he mentioned he looked at our blog and a few others from time to time but always forgot to check back or didn’t know when an update was posted.  He didn’t know about the magic of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.  Basically, most blogs and some websites have special programming that enables them to publish the fact that changes to the site have been made.  RSS readers can use that information to consolidate the updates into a single simple reader.  To know that a site publishes an RSS feed, look for this button somewhere on the site or on the menu bar of your browser (it will be smaller of course):

Rss Logo

Any site that displays that logo publishes a feed.  So, now you need to find a reader to consolidate your feeds.  I use http://www.bloglines.com/login to read my feeds but Yahoo!, Google and many other places have readers as well.  Once you create an account, find your blogs that you want to read and click on the orange RSS logo.  You’ll be taken to a new page.  Copy the URL (web address) that you are taken to and enter it where your reader asks for new feeds to monitor.  In bloglines, I click the “feeds” tab, then I click “add”.  I simply enter the web addresses I want to watch and save.  The reader will periodically monitor your subscribed site for changes and alert you to those changes when you log in.

Now, since you have endured my technology post, I will leave you with a picture of a pretty rainbow…

Awesome rainbow

This picture was actually taken a few years ago but Abigail spotted another beautiful rainbow this morning.  I didn’t have my camera but it was awesome to see.  Isaac wanted to hop a jet to get to the end and pick up his pot of gold.  Unfortunately for him, he had to go to school.

9 thoughts on “RSS Readers and a rainbow

  1. The kids too always want to follow the rainbow to the end – so they set out, get down the drive and half way across the hayfield and decide it’s too much work (especially since it doesn’t seem to be getting any closer). We saw a crossed double one the other day – that was neat looking!
    Kris

  2. Kim, you are the one who turned me on to bloglines…I was trying to use other readers prior to talking with you. Anyhow, it just occurred to me that the rss symbol has a sort of rainbow look to it. Not as pretty though!

  3. I feel really stupid, but why can’t I find this symbol on your blog? I just have you under Bookmarks and occasionally check it because I thought you didn’t have a feed. I use Google Reader for many others.

  4. I don’t know why you don’t see it Lynnie. I use Internet Explorer 7 and the symbol shows up at the far right side at the same level as the tabs. If you can’t find it, the feed address for my blog is http://myhomeamongthehills.com/feed/
    so you can plug that in to your reader. Holler if you have trouble with it. I can look at it and see if there is something else going on…

  5. Cool! Being a novice I have never added a subscription by typing in the feed address, but it worked! I use Firefox, so maybe that’s why I couldn’t find that symbol, but now I see that it doesn’t really matter if I can add them by address. Thanks so much for your help! I do like keeping up with farming families!

  6. I like the idea of firefox but it drives me crazy sometimes. The few times I have viewed my site with it, it looked bad. I don’t know why but many sites seem to suffer the same fate. Firefox fans poo-poo it but I always do better with Internet Explorer. Anyhow, glad you made it work!

  7. I use Firefox and your blog looks fine. Some email clients also have the ability to add RSS feeds. I can read you by clicking on your “folder” in my email client instead of my “inbox”. I use Evolution, but others have the same capability.

  8. Cool, Leslie. It is such a great idea, to use rss. I will have a look at Evolution. I have not seen it before!

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