RSS - keeping up-to-date with the site

RSS and this site - for those already familiar with RSS.

About RSS

What is RSS?

RSS ("Really simple syndication") allows you to see what is new on sites that use it without perusing those sites. You have probably seen the orange square indicating the availability of one or more feeds on a site.

Clicking on a link in a modern browser will open up the available descriptions with the related links to the full items, and you may choose simply to use RSS like this.

In an older browser you may see not very readable code, for the feed from this site at least - an effort will be made to improve this when time permits, if the older browsers aren't by then redundant! But if you have an older browser read on, you can still benefit from RSS.

But it offers more.
To read the links as described above you have to visit a website to click on its link(s) to see what is listed new, or at least enter the file address. You will probably then be presented with all the items on the list, possibly not even with any dates to help you identify what has been added since you last looked.

RSS is used to most advantage if you use a reader.

In an older browser this may be the only way (i.e. where you saw only code clicking on the link).

RSS readers

Modern browsers will probably automatically offer you this option when you click on an RSS link and the browser may include software to manage these. Even so you may wish to choose a different one.

Options include

Some readers, including Google reader, make it easy to share links with others you think will find them interesting.

As well as a default view they include various options to mark items as read (so they are removed from the list next time you look), to view only what is new in the last so many minutes or days. Some such as Google reader have a page with suggested feeds you may like based on your browsing.

The BBC provides a useful page about RSS and lists several other readers.

Adding manually

To use RSS you will need to add the url (address) of the site you want to get updates about to a reader, though if you are viewing a website through a modern browser this will be made very simple for you and you will just need to click a couple of options.

If you need to add an address / url to a reader the the one for this site is http://gillinghamanglican.org.uk/feed.xml
(don't repeat the http:// bit if it's already there).

RSS and this site

At present we have just one feed (comments welcomed as to whether you would like more specialized ones).

The intention is to update this regularly with:

news of new pages - whether adding to the site, news of coming events and reports of past events
news of signifcantly amended pages
notification of weekly updates to the notices page
notification of montly updates to the services and events page and to "Impact" page(s)

new on this (St. Mary's) website