blog: archive / rss
Feed me
I’ve had discussions recently about RSS feeds with a couple different people, and the thing I’ve realized is how useful they are, but, at the same time, how neglected they seem to be, at least by the masses. I think this will change with Outlook starting to include an RSS reader in Outlook 2007. So, I wanted to take the time to introduce RSS feeds to those readers who have never used them before.
And, for checking bloggers who have a similar track record that I do for posting, that can save a lot of unnecessary site visits.As most of my readers know by now, I don’t use very many Microsoft products. So, I won’t be using the RSS reader in Outlook 2007. There are two readers I use, the Mac app NetNewsWire Lite and the online service Bloglines. I prefer NetNewsWire. Bloglines, is nice when I happen to be away from my laptop. The Bloglines site downsizes nicely to my Treo’s browser. So, I can check my feeds even from my phone.
The beauty of an RSS feed reader is that you can check one spot for recent blog posts or news items or tour updates or new photos or, well you get the idea. To be honest I did not start using an RSS reader until I visited Lawrence and saw a few of the guys there using NetNewsWire. However, it really does save me a ton of time. I don’t have to surf around to all of the sites I frequent just to see if there are any new posts. And, for checking bloggers who have a similar track record that I do for posting, that can save a lot of unnecessary site visits. I have around 55 feeds that I keep tabs on in NetNewsWire and this really does save me a bunch of time.
The other thing I want to push is having multiple RSS feeds per site. I currently have RSS feeds for blog posts, ma.gnolia mutterings, and recent comments on the site. I hope to soon have my recent media compiled into one feed, but that’s going to take some python tricks that I haven’t quite learned yet (though it’s probably about as neat of a trick as tying my own shoe). Django has been really nice for setting up the regular RSS feeds for the different areas. I’ve even considered adding a feed for my recent iTunes tracks, but I figured that would just be excessive.
Anyway, if any of you have preferred readers, I’d love to hear about them. And if you’ve never used one, I recommend looking into it. It really has helped me.
Comments
Where O Where Have All the Family Photos Gone? Is there a different site for those?
Confused, Amy
Sort of. With all of my recent changes, I’ve made the main site less personal. Well, at least about other members of the family. The best thing to do, is to sign up for a Flickr account, and I’ll add you to my “Friends and Family” list. That way you can see more of the family photos there
Take a look at Yahoo! Pipes. Still rough around the edges, but it looks like a really promising mashup of UNIX command-line functionality and RSS.
Yeah, I saw the announcement the other day, but I haven’t gotten a chance to check it out. It sounds pretty wild though. I like the mash-up idea, and to use RSS is very cool.
I’ve been using Google Reader lately. Some of my friends hate it, but it’s grown on me.
I probably should give Google Reader a shot. I am still using NetNewsWire Lite currently…
Maybe RSS is a platform thing? I know plenty of Windows users who do not use RSS. But I’d say that RSS is much more popular on the Mac. Besides, NetNewsWire 3.1 is free now.
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