RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication"—it's a great format for distributing and gathering content from sources across the Web, including newspapers, magazines, and blogs.
Web publishers use RSS to easily create and distribute news feeds that include links, headlines, and summaries. The Christian Science Monitor, CNN, and CNET News are among the many sites that now deliver updated online content via RSS.
Yahoo!Xtra News offers dozens of RSS feeds you can read in Yahoo!Xtra My Yahoo!Xtra or using third-party RSS news reader software.
Yahoo!Xtra News also offers "My Sources"—a tab displayed at the top of each news section on the Yahoo!Xtra News front page. If you already use RSS in Yahoo!Xtra My Yahoo!Xtra, we'll automatically import your current news feeds, so you can access them under the "My Sources" tabs.
Here's how it works: Say you've added an RSS feed from the business section of the New York Times to Yahoo!Xtra My Yahoo!Xtra. When you're signed in to Yahoo!Xtra Yahoo!, you'll see your New York Times business feed as an option under the "My Sources" tab at the top of the business module on the front page of Yahoo!Xtra News.
When you're signed in, you can click on "My Sources" in Yahoo!Xtra News to add an RSS feed from hundreds of news sources. Just click "Add Sources Now" to add selected RSS feeds.
Note: Any changes to news feeds made here will appear on your Yahoo!Xtra News front page as well as your Yahoo!Xtra My Yahoo!Xtra page.
You can create your own custom RSS news feeds using Yahoo!Xtra News Search. Just enter a topical keyword or search term (e.g., a person, company, country, or issue), and we automatically create an RSS feed to track the latest news search results for that topic. You can view this custom feed in Yahoo!Xtra My Yahoo!Xtra, Yahoo!Xtra News, or any RSS news reader.
Yahoo!Xtra News RSS feeds are free of charge for individuals and non-profit organisations for non-commercial use. Attribution (included in each feed) is required.
More About RSS
There are many stand-alone software programs used to collect, update, and display RSS feeds. Many of these are free. Some work from within your web browser or email client, while other work on your desktop.
If you publish a blog, you may be interested in incorporating RSS feeds into your weblog to share with your readers.
News aggregators (also called news readers) download and display RSS feeds for you. Many free and commercial news aggregators are available for download. You can find a variety of RSS news aggregators listed in the Yahoo!Xtra Yahoo! Directory.
Many aggregators are separate, stand-alone programs; other services let you add RSS feeds to a web page. Yahoo!Xtra My Yahoo!Xtra makes it easy to add RSS feeds to your Yahoo!Xtra My Yahoo!Xtra page; just click on "Add to Yahoo!Xtra My Yahoo!Xtra" to the right of any link above.
You can incorporate RSS content into weblogs for non-commercial use. Blogs are web pages that usually consist of frequently updated, time-stamped entries and web links. Some blogs encourage conversation with a community of readers via comments. Blogging refers to a popular online publishing format used for a variety of purposes. Some blogs focus on specific topics, while others range widely, offering news, opinion, reviews, link sharing, group discussions, photography, online diaries, and more.