What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It is a way to easily distribute a
list of headlines, update notices, and sometimes content to a wide number of
people. It is used by computer programs that organize those headlines and
notices for easy reading.
What problem does RSS solve?
Most people are interested in many websites whose content changes on an
unpredictable schedule. Examples of such websites are news sites, community and
religious organization information pages, product information pages, medical
websites, and weblogs. Repeatedly checking each website to see if there is any
new content can be very tedious.
Email notification of changes was an early solution to this problem.
Unfortunately, when you receive email notifications from multiple websites they
are usually disorganized and can get overwhelming, and are often mistaken for
spam.
RSS is a better way to be notified of new and changed content. Notifications of
changes to multiple websites are handled easily, and the results are presented
to you well organized and distinct from email.
How does RSS work?
RSS works by having the website author maintain a list of notifications on their
website in a standard way. This list of notifications is called an "RSS Feed".
People who are interested in finding out the latest headlines or changes can
check this list. Special computer programs called "RSS aggregators" have
been developed that automatically access the RSS feeds of websites you care
about on your behalf and organize the results for you. (RSS feeds and
aggregators are also sometimes called "RSS Channels" and "RSS Readers".)
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