What's This? 
That is an icon representing an RSS feed. You've probably seen them hanging around here and there on the web and wondered what the point was. Here's your answer!
RSS feeds are used to quickly distribute news and information to all the people who have subscribed to a feed (more on how to subscribe in a moment). You may not know it but if you use Google's personalized home page or have a "My Yahoo" page, you are using RSS feeds. These days, many websites, especially news sites, use RSS feeds to pull in updates and compile them on one page.
In order to view RSS feeds you need an RSS aggregator. An aggregator can be any of the following:
- a website
- a web browser
- some mail clients
- some cellular phones
The existence of an RSS feed is generally represented by an icon like the ones below:
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Essentially, anytime you see a button that says "XML" or "RSS" you can simply click on that button to subscribe. Depending on how you want to read the feed you can either use the URL that you are linked to from this button, or follow the instructions on the page to subscribe to the feed with your web browser. Continuing reading for more information about managing your RSS feeds.
As mentioned, Yahoo and Google have built in RSS aggregators as part of their sites. You can also sign up for free websites that act as aggregators.
In addition to websites, web browsers themselves can also act as aggregators. Web browsers will let you create saved connections to feeds, similar to bookmarks (and frequently stored with or near your bookmarks). You can then browse through the latest posts or (usually) choose to look through and archive of posts.
Finally, several other applications also have aggregator options. Mozilla Thunderbird and Apple's iTunes both have aggregator features. In addition, some mobile phones and digital video recorders can function in a similar way. Look for documentation on your device for more instructions on setting up RSS aggregators in these cases.
If you have additional questions about RSS feeds or how to use them to learn more about IT Education, please email us at classreg@ncsu.edu or contact the NCSU Help Desk at 919.515.HELP (4357) or help@ncsu.edu.
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