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About RSS

XML RSS 1.0 Newsletter feed. What is this orange icon and what does it do?

RSS feeds are commonly used to display news stories, the latest tables of contents of e-journals, weblog (blog) content, and other information. An icon, like the one above, indicates that Web content is provided in RSS format. The icons link to the RSS feed (a simple XML document). The icons are usually marked XML, RSS, or RDF. To access the RSS feed, simply click on it. To configure aggregators or other feed readers to subscribe, all you need is the url to this RSS file. Some aggregators or readers allow you to drag and drop the feed icons to subscribe; others automatically detect rss feeds on Web pages and incorporate them. Usually your browser can display the text XML markup of a RSS feed (click on the Library Newsletter button XML RSS 1.0 Newsletter feed. and see our RSS 1.0 feed). More on Aggregators/Readers.

What is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) as a family of XML-based communication standards:

Functionally, RSS (pronounced "arr-ess-ess") is a web syndication protocol primarily used by news websites and weblogs. A program known as an RSS aggregator or feed reader can check RSS-enabled webpages on behalf of a user and display any updated articles that it finds. (Wikipedia)

In other words, RSS protocols allow publication of information, such as news, in a standard XML format (eXtensible Markup Language, the successor to HTML) that can be easily and automatically picked up by aggregators and other feed readers such as the Yale University Web portal YaleInfo. An RSS feed, sometimes called a channel, is simply an XML text file (usually ending in .rss, .xml or .rdf) on a Web server. Once information is refreshed at the XML text file source, the feeds are automatically refreshed wherever they are being read. Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.9x and RSS 2.0), RDF Site Summary (RSS 1.0) and Atom (0.3) are examples of the competing standards for feeds that are currently available.

For more information...

 

Using the XML Icon to Access the Library Newsletter RSS 1.0 Feed

The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library currently produces a RSS 1.0 (RDF Site Summary) feed for its newsletter on the Library's virtual Front Door. You can access the feed by clicking on the XML button XML RSS 1.0 Newsletter feed. below the Library news items. The url of the rss feed (in this case: http://elibrary.med.yale.edu/blog/?feed=rss2&cat=18) is all that you need to create a Library News channel on your RSS reader or aggregator. This feed will be automatically updated as the Library News is updated.

Adding the Library News to your YaleInfo Portal Page

YaleInfo has the ability to read RSS feeds from news, blogs and other Web services. To do this you must login using your valid Yale NetID and password via the Yale Central Authentication System (CAS). To see the Medical Library's News appear in your personalized YaleInfo page...

  1. login to YaleInfo using your NetID and password
  2. go to the YaleInfo page where you wish the Library Newsletter to appear
  3. click on Preferences in the top right menu
  4. click on the tab of the page you wish the feed to be read (it defaults to the first tab)
  5. click on New Channel where you want it to go
  6. select 1) News or Tools under Category (there are additional characterizations, if you wish)
  7. press Go and under 2) choose RSS / Blog Reader
  8. and 3) click the Add button
  9. paste in the url of the RSS feed you wish (the one you just copied) in the space provided
  10. select how many news items you wish to see displayed, in this case, all will be fine
  11. then press the Finished button
  12. and then the Return option on the upper right tab

...and the feed should appear on your portal page (For the full instructions on how to do this, see the YaleInfo Help, under Channel Guide... RSS / Blog Reader).

Feed Aggregators/Readers

Aggregators are software that can read multiple feeds.

Aggregators are typically constructed as extensions to a Web browser such as Mozilla Firefox, as extensions to an email program, or as standalone programs. An alternative to these dedicated packages are Web-based RSS aggregators such as found on My Yahoo, Yahoo! 's user-customizable Web page. Web-based aggregators require no software installation and make the user's "feeds" available on any computer with Web access. (Wikipedia)

Aggregators/Readers:

 

Embedding an RSS Feed into a Web Page