Rich Site Summary or RSS is a format used by websites to distribute updates, news, headlines and other information to those who “subscribe” to the site’s “feed”. Webpages with feeds available often display an orange “RSS” or “XML” icon. (XML stands for Extensible Markup Language)
Internet browsers such as Internet Explorer (IE), Mozilla Firefox and also Apple’s Safari provide users with the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds and read updates right in the browser. Of course there are also stand-alone programs available to collect all the fresh content from your favourite websites, but many users still prefer doing that via a browser.
There is an orange-and-white icon in IE and Firefox indicating that a page has an RSS feed available. (Read the example at Feedicons) In Apple Safari, there is a blue “RSS” button displayed in the address bar indicating the same. You can opt for subscription options by clicking the button.
For IE7, if a website has a feed available, the red or orange RSS Feeds button in the toolbar is undimmed and clickable. You can see a list of feeds available after you click the button. You can click the “Subscribe to this feed” option on screen to sign up. IE7 will collect the articles for you. You can read them by clicking the star-shaped icon on the left side of the toolbar to open the Favourite Centre. Click the Feeds button to see the latest news.
Read also the tutorial from Microsoft on using feeds with IE7.
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