If you don't know the answer to the questions above, and/or don't understand what the logos above mean, please read on, especially if you are not a web designer or developer.

I will do my best to explain the above and what it means using non-techy terms, and hopefully more people (you) will understand the benefits of a technology that is all around you but rarely used by people other than web-types (like myself).

An Example

The BBC provides rolling news coverage on it's website. Everytime a new article appears on the homepage the only way you will ever know is by checking on their website. That's fine most of the time, but you probably also check other sites regularly to see whether new information or news has been added. I check forums for replies, I also check the news at Uncrate (showcasing new gadgets) and I like to see new photos when my friends upload them to Flickr (a photo sharing site). Chris also has a podcast, and I need to know when I can download a new one.

The Problem and The Solution

All of these sources of changing information have to be checked separately, and you have to remember to visit each site every-so-often to check for updates. But what if you had a system where all your sites and forums and podcasts notified you when they had been updated? What if you could view all this information in one place, in a similar way to when you check your emails? What if you didn't have to remember to check all those sites all the time?

When Uncrate adds a new review, or Si uploads a new photo I know because I use News Feeds, which is exactly the same as an RSS Feed or an XML Feed. They just are different names for the same technology. And they all use the logos above to signify that the service is available. You've probably seen them around the web, or if you haven't noticed it, it will only take a glance at the BBC Sports page or even this very page (see right hand column) to realise that you could have live football results or my newest blog entry delivered to you directly, at the same time it appears on the website.

Using these Feeds, I can be sure that when Chris uploads his new podcast I will be the first to be told. In fact, if you listen to podcasts in iTunes, that is exactly how the program knows a new one is available - it checks a News Feed for updates. The only difference with iTunes is that it only deals with music. A standard News Reader (which are free!) can deal with all feed types - news updates, forum replies, photos, blog entries, podcasts...

As you might realise, this expands your ability to keep tabs on all your information. You ultimately will save time as it stops those wasted journeys to sites when there has been no new content. The News Reader provides a link with each piece of new content it displays so you can choose to go directly to the original article or photo, but it also means you can read a title and ignore it if it's not of interest.

If the idea interests you, you will probably want to get a News Reader. Mine is a free web-based one (Rojo), which means I can check anywhere in the world, just like your webmail. It is password protected and contains only my feeds which I can add and remove as I choose. You can also download News Readers that run on your computer directly. Some email providers place a news reader in their webmail (for example Yahoo! Mail beta users have the option in the left hand folder list).

Without a news reader, News Feeds are not particularly user-friendly. They can look like a jumble of code, for example this is mine (depending which browser you are using it might be more or less of a jumble). But if you copy the web address into your NewsFeeder, it will understand it just fine, and you'll be set to receive new articles as and when they occur on my site. Wherever you see the logos above or 'RSS' or 'XML', that is the link you copy into the News Reader.

If you have a question, just leave a comment and I'll try to answer it. I realised that the BBC's attempt to explain this wasn't particularly clear, and this was my attempt to clarify the system. It's not like any of this is new, just I thought it hasn't been well explained in the past, and the more people who know, the better.