Things to Remember on Reading RSS Feeds
RSS is becoming our main tools to aggregate interesting bits on our digital life. People tend to use RSS just like using email nowadays. But, every time we get through dozens (and may be hundreds and thousands) unread item buried under our RSS reader, this will make our life being unproductive.
In order to solve my own problem with the RSS reading habit, I found these things I remember when using RSS feeds. I hope these tips worth to reading to everyone. I will update this post as necessary when I got new useful idea to put on it.
1. RSS Feed is not email.
Unlike email, you may need to read all items carefully, take care of every issues, reply to every important message before trashing it all. Email may even your job. But RSS is not. I reminds you, RSS is not. Although, you may agree with me that there are many great things come from the use of RSS. Or, if you are a kind o person who did research on the internets, I bet you depend most on RSS. But, let’s say we are generally not treat RSS like our job. Periode.
So, it’s not your job. It must not ruin your job. It must not eat your work hours.
The, if you agree, you do not need to read all unread items, my dear. So, be cool. There are no sin to not read RSS in a day. You will not be misinformed just by letting some items passed.
Whenever you had set this philosophy in mind, you would be really good. Believe me.
2. Download full content of the feed, if available.
Full content made your life easier. Why? Remember, the first reason you have RSS Reader is to make your life easier by following all your favorites blog or news out there, using one single interface. That’s it. So, full content will help you a lot to save your time.
Although full content may need much bytes to download them all, it have some advantage too, like the ability to refine your search or to find news faster.
Evenmore, for such kind of people who depend much on RSS, the need for full content became so important. So, carefully pick full rss feed. Some website didn’t provide full RSS, hell away with them. But if you really need their content, you are free to subscribe it.
3. Use good RSS Reader.
Like email, you need a good tool to support your RSS activities. You really need a good RSS reader.
I do not know about you. But I get to used to read my RSS mostly with the Newsgator products, both the FeedDemon and NetNewsWire on PC and Mac, respectively. Both products are great product to read RSS, with nice and simple user interface. And the best thing are, other than supporting both operating system, both are also free.
There are several great products available both on Mac and PC. And, there are also some good online RSS reader like Google Reader and Bloglines.
Most of these products I mentioned here are able to import feed using OPML, a custom XML format. Use this feature extensively on your preferred RSS reader.
4. Manage your feeds.
If you are like me, who subscribed to hundred of feeds, and got thousand of new items everyday, mismanaged feeds will sucks your day. Well, I do simple things like creating a category on my feed reader, it helps me a lot. Place the right feed at the proper easy to understand category, fast to find, on some uncluttered stack.
Use an easy-to-remember-yet-explain-everything category name. Do not afraid to moved back and forth your feed, as long as you are comfortable while reading it.
5. Do not dare to use Mark All as Read buttons.
In most of Feed Reader, there is a button which help you a lot to save your time on your feed. On FeedDemon, it have this button when you have unread items more than 48 hours. The panic buttons will showed up, and with one click away. Your unread items will gone.
I will not explain much why this is a must to your RSS reading habit. Think it productivity saver.
6. Filter your feeds, track news that matters.
Some good rss reader provide features that let its user to use their feeds for the most productive way their user have.
In NetNewsWire, I used the Smart List feature to filter the most interested things I want to track. I can filter it either via feed title, description, and even related to a particular feed or folder. Gotcha, it saves my time to not to follow other uninterested items. Read this filter, which are some things I really care mush. Then mark all other unread items, then get back to work. Fortunately, the same also available on Windows FeedDemon which called differently.
7. Sync your feed.
If your reader is NetNewsWire or FeedDemon, you can even sync your feed to NewsGator sites. Let say you use different computer, at home and office. This features let you sync your feeds complete with its read status via Newsgator services. Oh forgot to say, it is free services provided by Newsgator. It also have an online web access, in case you are not with your computer so you can read it anywhere.
To use this service, you are required to register on Newsgator services with simple user registration with NetNewsWire or FeedDemon. Registration is easy, even, you can register without providing your email. After you have being registered, you will be able to sync all feed into NewsGator services. This will make your feed available everywhere, and can be read online too. Other feed reader, like RSS bandit (for Windows only) also able to sync over NewsGator as well as Google reader.
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Those are seven things to remember when I read RSS Feeds. I hope this list is worth to read. Do you have any suggestion can be added to this list? Feel free to add in the comment. I will be add and giving a credit to any cool suggestion.
Any English errors? :-) Sure, feel free to comment.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any RSS feed product I mentioned above. This article just be posted for my own use, and may be benefit to the others. I am not either be paid to write this :-)
Share: 
— -tikabanget- · 02/07/08 03:04 PM · #
dan google reader sayah masih ngutang 1000 postingan..
keluh
— wawan · 26/08/08 08:08 AM · #
RSS Feed is powerfull tools to get short news or blogs.
— adopt a family christmas · 16/12/08 06:04 AM · #
It looks like you really had a nice time
— cartoon christmas tree picture · 16/12/08 10:31 PM · #
kidbrotherorsister