If you have several blogs that you read on a daily basis, you may want to use a Feed Reader to view them all in one place. A Feed Reader can also be called an Aggregator or an RSS Reader. They all mean the same thing. (If you want to know more about RSS Feeds, visit my glossary.) You have the choice of using an online Reader or downloading some software to your desktop. Personally, I like the online version much better. For one thing, I use one computer for work and one for home/writing, so I can access my feeds from either one. Secondly, most of the download versions are not free.
My favorite feed reader is Google Reader (which is free and online), but there are several other free readers available. You may want to experiment with a few and see how you like them.
To set up Google Reader, follow these steps:
- Go to www.google.com/reader
- If you already have a Google Account, use it to sign up. If not, you’ll need to sign up for one. Do it! It’s painless and free and many of my How To tips rely on free Google services that require you to have a Google Account. [More info on Google Accounts]
- Once you’ve logged in, click the “Settings” link in the upper right.
- Click the “Goodies” tab and scroll down to the section called “Subscribe as you Surf”. You’ll see a yellow button that says “Subscribe…”. Simply click it with your left mouse button and keep holding down the button while you drag that Subscribe link up to your Links toolbar. (This works on both Macs and PCs, in both Firefox and Internet Explorer - yay!)
- When you’re visiting a blog or website that has some kind of Subscribe button (it often is called an “RSS Feed”) simply click the new “Subscribe…” button in your Links toolbar. OR, click their Subscribe button and choose Google Reader when the options are presented. That’s it!
Other Feed Readers:
Feed Reader: www.feedreader.com [online]
AmphetaDesk: www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/ [download]
Bloglines: www.bloglines.com [online]
Yahoo: my.yahoo.com [online, must have Yahoo account]
Feed Demon: www.feeddemon.com [download, not free]
Outlook 2007: Has a built-in feed reader, scroll down the left side until you see “RSS Feeds”
The newest versions of all web browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc.) have a built-in feed reader too. They don’t have as many bells and whistles, but they’re usable.
Other sites’ listings of Feed Readers - there are so many options available!
http://blogspace.com/rss/readers
http://www.allrss.com/rssreaders.html