How to RSS

RSS will take over e-zines when Microsoft bundles RSS reader into Windows. So, why don't you prepare for it right now?

Basics
RSSing is simple. First, make regular web pages you want to RSS. Then, make a list of the pages you made by following the specification of RSS . That file is called "RSS feed," and that's what you need for RSSing. Once you add a link pointing to the RSS feed file from where you are promoting your RSS, you are ready to rock 'n' roll. I haven't found any official rule, but using an icon of white letters with an appropriate file extension (e.g., XML or RDF) on an orange rectangular is the standard.

Tweaking
An RSS-feed-file-pointing link works perfect on RSS-reading software, but it doesn't work on web-based RSS readers such as My Yahoo!. For a web-based RSS reader, you may want to add one-click-subscription links, like an "Add to My Yahoo!" link. Here are some examples of add-to links.
Google:
http://fusion.google.com/add?feedurl=http://YourFeedURL (Details )
Yahoo:
http://add.my.yahoo.com/rss?url=http://YourFeedURL (Details )
MSN:
http://my.msn.com/addtomymsn.armx?id=rss&ut=http://YourFeedURL
Bloglines:
http://www.bloglines.com/sub/http://YourFeedURL
newsgator:
http://www.newsgator.com/ngs/subscriber/subext.aspx?url=http://YourFeedURL

(Replace "YourFeedURL" with the actual URL of your RSS feed file.)


I would, however, only add links for Yahoo! and MSN (and Google, when they start providing the service). If you were to add links for all the available web-based RSS readers, your pages will be cluttered.

Live Bookmarks and Auto-Discovery
Two more things you need to know about RSSing is FireFox's Live Bookmarks and Yahoo! Toolbar's Auto-Discovery . Because more and more software is supporting these features, you should make your pages Live Bookmarks and Auto-Discovery compatible. To do so, just add the following anywhere to the head section of your pages' HTML code.


(Replace 'Your Title' and 'YouFeedURL' with yours.)