RSS feeds/readers

[jlb1705]

Up until now, I've pretty much ignored the availability of RSS feeds. I'm still pretty ignorant about them, so I'd like to ask of the people who make use of this what the deal is. I have a rudimentary understanding of what can be done, but I'm wondering what you think the benefits are and how you think it makes the internet better for you. I just started playing around with iGoogle and I guess I'm starting to become interested in the idea. One frustrating problem I've had with iGoogle is half of the feeds I have loaded onto my page are not even loading in Firefox. Anyway, if somebody could recommend something that is a simple, intuitive and aesthetically pleasant way to get into RSS feeds, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Deety]

I like iGoogle for RSS feeds. It saves a lot of time to get the topics that are of interest in one place rather than hunt for them, though I'm also finding new sites through the RSS links.

News and gadgets I use often (directions, calculator, dictionaries) are on one tab, along with sites like Gizmodo that I enjoy visiting every few days when something interesting pops up. Sports (including the BP feed and our Alexa ranking) are on another tab. One has industry news, all in one place so I can see quickly what articles are of interest. I've been cooking more lately, so one just has recipe-of-the-day ideas from a few places, and sometimes one catches my attention enough to do something new. I toss the slow-loading for-fun gadgets - games and such - on extra tabs to visit when I'm bored.

The add-ons you get from the Google page can be good, but by far my favorite additions have been things I've just discovered by checking for a feed when I find an interesting page.

 

[jlb1705]

I like iGoogle for RSS feeds. It saves a lot of time to get the topics that are of interest in one place rather than hunt for them, though I'm also finding new sites through the RSS links.

News and gadgets I use often (directions, calculator, dictionaries) are on one tab, along with sites like Gizmodo that I enjoy visiting every few days when something interesting pops up. Sports (including the BP feed and our Alexa ranking) are on another tab. One has industry news, all in one place so I can see quickly what articles are of interest. I've been cooking more lately, so one just has recipe-of-the-day ideas from a few places, and sometimes one catches my attention enough to do something new. I toss the slow-loading for-fun gadgets - games and such - on extra tabs to visit when I'm bored.

The add-ons you get from the Google page can be good, but by far my favorite additions have been things I've just discovered by checking for a feed when I find an interesting page.

I've liked what I've seen of iGoogle so far, but I'm concerned about half of the feeds not loading in Firefox for me. Are you using it in Firefox, and if so, have you experienced anything similar or how are you avoiding that problem?

 

[OSUsushichic]

I use Google Reader (http://reader.google.com) and love it. Another popular reader is Bloglines (Bloglines). These readers make it really easy to set up and manage your feeds. Both work fine for me in Firefox.

Here's a basic intro to RSS: FeedBurner - Feed 101

 

[Deety]

I've liked what I've seen of iGoogle so far, but I'm concerned about half of the feeds not loading in Firefox for me. Are you using it in Firefox, and if so, have you experienced anything similar or how are you avoiding that problem?

The items from the "add stuff" section don't always load. My guess would be that some of those feeds just don't have the bandwith to keep up with the demand they get from being showcased on Google. The items I find on my own almost always load without problems. Gadgets are less reliable than pure text feeds.