RSS For Motorcyclists: Feed Readers and Subscriptions

In this post, I’ll introduce you to some popular feed readers and show you how to subscribe to your first RSS feed. (This is the second post in the series “RSS For Motorcyclists.” Be sure to read the first post, What is RSS? if you missed it the first time around.)

Who’s The Feed Reader?

A “feed reader” is a software application that keeps track of all the RSS feeds you’ve subscribed to and checks them for updates on a regular basis. When it finds one, it downloads the new content and marks the feed so you can read the new stuff later on. Instead of opening all your bookmarked sites one at a time, you can just fire up your feed reader and start reading from there.

Web-based Feed Readers

If this is your first time using RSS, I highly recommend using a web-based feed reader while you start out. With a web-based reader, you don’t have to install any software on your computer other than the web browser you already have. (You’re reading this post somehow, right?) You also don’t have to worry about what operating system you’re using — most web-based readers will work just fine regardless. Best of all, the most popular web-based feed readers are completely free to use!

Here are some web-based feed readers that are worth a try:

• Google Reader, requires a Google (i.e. gmail) account
• NewsGator Online
• Bloglines

If you’re wondering what I use on a daily basis, the answer is Google Reader. And if any of you happen to have a favorite feed reader, I’d love to hear about it as well!

Subscribing to a Feed

Now that you’ve set yourself up with a feed reader, it’s time to subscribe to a feed. We’ll subscribe to the AMA’s news page as an example, so open the page in a new browser window or tab.

The first step is finding the link to the feed. This is often the hardest part of using RSS! The first place I like to check is my web browser’s feed detector icon. Here’s what it looks like in Firefox:

RSS feed icon in Firefox

The orange RSS icon, circled in red, will appear when Firefox detects that a page has an RSS feed. Here’s what the same thing looks like in Internet Explorer:

RSS feed icon in Internet Explorer

If you don’t see a feed icon in your browser, you’ll have to find the link on the site itself. Web sites vary wildly when it comes to displaying RSS feed links. Here’s the link on Brad’s blog, Troubadour on a Triumph:

RSS feed subscription links

And here’s Dan’s at Musings of an Intrepid Commuter:

RSS feed subscription link, Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Once you’ve found the link to the RSS feed, click on it to subscribe. In most browsers, including Firefox and Internet Explorer, this will bring up a page showing the actual feed. This is to prevent any unexpected surprises. Let’s try it now on the AMA news page.

Previewing the feed in Firefox

As you can see, the feed contains a list of recent news articles that have been posted to the AMA’s news page. The formatting is very basic, since we’re primarily interested in the content. The very top of the page is where you actually finalize the subscription. I use Google Reader, so I’ve selected it in the dropdown box. The last thing to do now is click on “Subscribe Now”. Here’s what the final result looks like in the feed reader:

Viewing the feed in Google Reader

What’s Next?

If you’ve stuck with me this far, now’s your chance to explore on your own. Visit some of your favorite blogs and websites and try subscribing to their feeds. Once you’re comfortable with the subscription process, click here to read the next article in this series: RSS For Motorcyclists: Tips and Tricks, where we’ll explore some RSS feeds that are of interest to motorcyclists, including a few neat tricks that can give you a leg up on your competition!