RSS Feed

What are News Feeds?

News feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and video in one place, as soon as its published, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from.

Feeds are also known as RSS. There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but most people plump for 'Really Simple Syndication'. In essence, the feeds themselves are just web pages, designed to be read by computers rather than people.

How do I start using feeds?

In general, the first thing you need is something called a news reader. This is a piece of software that checks the feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications.

Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want it to receive. If you click on the RSS button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader. Most sites that offer feeds use a similar orange button, but some may just have a normal web link.

Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites.

How do I get a news reader?

You can download the Westfalia Separator "News Reader" here:

Westfalia Separator News Reader
Version: Build 493, For Windows 2000 & XP
Download: 3,30 MB

Editing:
Westfalia Separator GmbH
Corporate Communications
Phone: +49 2522 77-2172
Fax: +49 2522 77-2678
E-mail: public.relations@gea-westfalia.de