| What is RSS? RSS feeds contain headlines, summaries, and links for the latest articles and papers published on a website, such as heritage.org. You can subscribe to heritage.org’s free RSS feeds to keep track of Heritage Foundation weblogs, papers, and commentaries in a news reader or news aggregator. What is ATOM? ATOM is a different file format that serves much the same function as RSS. While RSS feeds are more widely supported, some news reader software prefers ATOM feeds. If you’re unsure of which to choose, go with RSS: all news readers support it. What do I need to use RSS and ATOM feeds? All you need is a piece of software called a news reader or news aggregator. A news reader loads feeds from sites to which you have subscribed every so often (usually every hour) and displays the latest news in a fast, easy-to-read format. We like Bloglines, a free, web-based news reader that you can access from any computer with a web browser. Windows users may wish to try FeedDemon, which presents RSS and ATOM feeds in an Outlook-style interface. Macintosh users should try NetNewsWire, which resembles Apple’s Mail application. (Also available on the same page is NetNewsWire Lite, a free version of the software with fewer features.) As well, the Open Directory maintains a list of news readers. How do I subscribe to heritage.org RSS and ATOM feeds? First, choose a news reader—three good ones are listed above. Then follow that news reader’s instructions on how to subscribe to a new feed. Generally, you’ll need to right-click (or on a Macintosh, control-click) on the "XML" button for the feed to which you wish to subscribe, copy the link address, and then paste it into your news reader (there may be an "Add Feed" or "New Feed" button for this purpose). Some news readers automate this process by allowing you to just click on the orange "XML" button for the feed to which you wish to subscribe, and the news reader handles the rest. |