What are RSS feeds?

RSS feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content. You can get the latest news, page updates or Podcasts in one place, immediately after publication, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from.

There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but most people go for 'Really Simple Syndication' or 'Rich Site Summary'.

How can RSS feeds benefit my website?

There are two main ways in which an RSS feed can be used with your site:

• You can provide a feed from your site that users can subscribe to, allowing them to be immediately notified of updates and changes to the site.
• You can use a feed from another site to display in a page on your site, as we have done for the BBC UK news on the right.

The latter has particular benefits, providing current information for visitors, e.g. a feed from the BBC weather centre for a holiday site such as www.barnbreaks.co.uk

Recent versions of popular browsers such as Internet Explorer 7 or 8, FireFox and Safari are able to manage and display feeds that you provide from your site.  Most of your visitors will be able to access them without the need for any special software, as used to be the case.  SiteE@se can implement either of the above uses of RSS feeds as part of your website design.