How do I subscribe to an RSS feed

The first thing you need is an RSS reader, which will check RSS feeds and let you read any new listing that have been added to them. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications.

Browser-based RSS readers let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from any computer, whereas downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer, in the same way that you either download your email using Outlook, or keep it on a web-based service like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo.

Once you have chosen an RSS reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want to receive, by finding and subscribing to the relevant RSS feeds.

For example, if you would like the latest Idealist.org news, Idealist.org listings or Idealist.org events information, simply visit the Idealist.org site and on the Search results page, you will see the orange RSS buttons on the top of that page next to the search definition.

If you click on the button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the RSS feed into your RSS reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your RSS reader.

Most sites that offer RSS feeds use a similar orange RSS button, but some may just have a normal web link to the feed.

Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for RSS feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to RSS feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites.

Here is a range of different RSS readers available and new versions are appearing all the time. You need to choose one that works on an internet browser, or one that will work with your computer.

RSS readers you can use on any internet browser

1. Bloglines
2. NewsGator

1. Newz Crawler
2. Awasu

1. The built-in Safari is an RSS reader
   
2. Newsfire
3. NetNewsWire

1. Straw
2. Syndigator