What is and how do I use it?

RSS stands for "Real Simple Syndication" and "Rich Site Summary" and uses XML (eXtensible Markup Language) technology to syndicate and aggregate Internet content. The most common use of RSS is for news feeds, like the ones at News.Utah.Gov.

RSS news feeds enable you to receive real time news and information. An RSS feed contains headlines, summaries, and links to full news stories on News.Utah.Gov. In order to be able to read an RSS feed, you will need something called an RSS reader.

An RSS reader is a small software program that "reads" the XML and displays the story information in a way that humans can understand. If you don't have an RSS reader and you click on an RSS link, you will probably not understand the XML code that appears in your browser window.

RSS readers are easy to use and can be downloaded from a variety of Web sites. Google and Yahoo! both provide a comprehensive list of RSS readers. Make sure the RSS reader you choose to download is compatible with the operating system on your computer (in other words, if you have a Mac, be sure to find a RSS reader that works on a Mac; if you use Windows, make sure your RSS reader works in Windows, etc.).

Most RSS readers work the same way. To add a new feed (or "channel"), you will need to do the following:

• First, click on the orange XML button next to the news story you want
• A new Web page will appear displaying XML code
• Highlight and copy the URL that is in the address bar on your browser window (for example, the URL you would copy for the "Business & Economy" news feed is http://news.utah.gov/news/feeds/business.rdf)
• Paste that URL into the "Add New Channel" section of your RSS reader

That's it! The RSS feed will begin to display and regularly update the headlines for you.