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RSS Feeds
What is RSS?
There are large amounts of content available on the Web today, and it’s getting harder and harder to filter out the content you’re interested in from the content that means nothing to you. RSS is a technology that allows you to do just that — filter out the signal from the noise.
RSS allows you to pull all the content that interests you into one location using RSS feeds so you no longer have to visit multiple Web sites to find out what’s new. Think of an RSS feed as a list of new and updated content from your favorite Web sites that is “fed” straight to your desktop. Of course for all this to work, your favorite Web sites must support RSS feeds and you must have software on your computer, a news reader or aggregator, which gathers and displays the feeds and periodically checks to see if there is new information available. And it’s not just your computer that can display RSS feeds; news readers are also available for PDA’s, cell phones, and e-mail software.
So what does RSS stand for? Well, it depends on who you ask. Most commonly, it is defined as Really Simple Syndication. But it can also be defined as Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, or a variation on one of these. Any way you name it, RSS is an XML file that allows Web sites to syndicate article summaries, headlines, and links.
Not all Web sites have RSS feeds. You can identify a feed by looking for a small button, usually orange, that says 
. Clicking one of these buttons in a Web browser will display a bunch of code that will probably mean nothing to you. This bunch of code is actually an XML document, with no formatting, and may have a file extension of .xml, .rss, or .rdf. A news reader will know how to display this code, will update this information regularly, and will filter the information displayed. Your first step in using RSS feeds is to get a news reader.
How to get a news reader (aggregator)
News readers, or aggregators, allow information to come to you instead of you having to go out on the Web to find it. They pull the information into a single place and make it easy to search and filter, displaying the most recent information first. You select, or subscribe, to the RSS feeds you're interested in, and let the news reader do the rest.
Many readers are free or offer a free trial period; others are available for purchase and offer more advanced features or tools. The reader you use is up to you. If you’re new to RSS feeds, you may want to try out a couple of different readers until you learn what kind works best for you.
News readers are available in two different formats: software that stands on its own or software you can integrate into programs you already use like a Web browser or an e-mail client. Both types of readers allow you to do the following:
- Add new RSS feeds and create groups of feeds.
- Navigate and read articles brought in by the feeds.
- Specify how often the reader should check for new information.
- Create filters.
If you have multiple feeds, it can be difficult to find information on a specific topic. Most readers have a filter tool that displays content based on keywords you specify.
- Set a watch.
If you only want to display information about a specific topic, you can set a watch that does an automatic search through all your incoming feeds and only displays content that matches a keyword you specify
A comprehensive list of news readers can be found on the following Web sites:
How to use an RSS feed
Once you have a news reader, go to your favorite Web sites and see if they offer RSS feeds — look for the orange RSS button . Depending on your reader, you will have to do one of the following to subscribe to an RSS feed:
- Drag the orange RSS or XML button onto your news reader.
- Drag the URL of the RSS feed from your Web browser onto your news reader.
- Copy and paste the URL of the RSS feed, or the URL of the page that contains the RSS feed, into your news reader (look for a “subscribe” or “open” option in the reader).
RSS feeds available on Quark Web sites
To subscribe to all Quark RSS feeds, copy and paste the URL of this page into your news reader.
NOTE: Currently, the password-protected Quark forum RSS feeds will not display correctly in news readers and you will not be notified when new messages are posted.
We encourage the use of Quark RSS feeds as part of a Web site, subject to our Terms and Conditions
The Quark Web site currently offers RSS feeds for the following pages:
RSS Feeds
What is RSS?
There are large amounts of content available on the Web today, and it’s getting harder and harder to filter out the content you’re interested in from the content that means nothing to you. RSS is a technology that allows you to do just that — filter out the signal from the noise.
RSS allows you to pull all the content that interests you into one location using RSS feeds so you no longer have to visit multiple Web sites to find out what’s new. Think of an RSS feed as a list of new and updated content from your favorite Web sites that is “fed” straight to your desktop. Of course for all this to work, your favorite Web sites must support RSS feeds and you must have software on your computer, a news reader or aggregator, which gathers and displays the feeds and periodically checks to see if there is new information available. And it’s not just your computer that can display RSS feeds; news readers are also available for PDA’s, cell phones, and e-mail software.
So what does RSS stand for? Well, it depends on who you ask. Most commonly, it is defined as Really Simple Syndication. But it can also be defined as Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, or a variation on one of these. Any way you name it, RSS is an XML file that allows Web sites to syndicate article summaries, headlines, and links.
Not all Web sites have RSS feeds. You can identify a feed by looking for a small button, usually orange, that says . Clicking one of these buttons in a Web browser will display a bunch of code that will probably mean nothing to you. This bunch of code is actually an XML document, with no formatting, and may have a file extension of .xml, .rss, or .rdf. A news reader will know how to display this code, will update this information regularly, and will filter the information displayed. Your first step in using RSS feeds is to get a news reader.
How to get a news reader (aggregator)
News readers, or aggregators, allow information to come to you instead of you having to go out on the Web to find it. They pull the information into a single place and make it easy to search and filter, displaying the most recent information first. You select, or subscribe, to the RSS feeds you're interested in, and let the news reader do the rest.
Many readers are free or offer a free trial period; others are available for purchase and offer more advanced features or tools. The reader you use is up to you. If you’re new to RSS feeds, you may want to try out a couple of different readers until you learn what kind works best for you.
News readers are available in two different formats: software that stands on its own or software you can integrate into programs you already use like a Web browser or an e-mail client. Both types of readers allow you to do the following:
- Add new RSS feeds and create groups of feeds.
- Navigate and read articles brought in by the feeds.
- Specify how often the reader should check for new information.
- Create filters.
If you have multiple feeds, it can be difficult to find information on a specific topic. Most readers have a filter tool that displays content based on keywords you specify. - Set a watch.
If you only want to display information about a specific topic, you can set a watch that does an automatic search through all your incoming feeds and only displays content that matches a keyword you specify
A comprehensive list of news readers can be found on the following Web sites:
How to use an RSS feed
Once you have a news reader, go to your favorite Web sites and see if they offer RSS feeds — look for the orange RSS button . Depending on your reader, you will have to do one of the following to subscribe to an RSS feed:
- Drag the orange RSS or XML button onto your news reader.
- Drag the URL of the RSS feed from your Web browser onto your news reader.
- Copy and paste the URL of the RSS feed, or the URL of the page that contains the RSS feed, into your news reader (look for a “subscribe” or “open” option in the reader).
RSS feeds available on Quark Web sites
To subscribe to all Quark RSS feeds, copy and paste the URL of this page into your news reader.
NOTE: Currently, the password-protected Quark forum RSS feeds will not display correctly in news readers and you will not be notified when new messages are posted.
We encourage the use of Quark RSS feeds as part of a Web site, subject to our Terms and Conditions
The Quark Web site currently offers RSS feeds for the following pages:
