RSS - The How and Why

RSS is a recently developed Internet function which can be used to automate the delivery of updated website data to a user's desktop.

By copying the URL of the site you are interested in into an RSS Reader you can automatically receive details of any updates to that site without having to hunt through all of your bookmark tabs, and trying to find the new information.

Why are you recommending RSS?

Fulford Parish Council website is an RSS enabled site. We have several new initiatives in plan for this year which will require participation from the community if they are to be successful.

We aim to communicate these initiatives to as many of our Parishioners as possible and feel that by using RSS our Parishioners will be able to find this information much easier. All you have to do is register this site within their RSS Reader on your computer.

It's as simple as that!

How do I know if a site supports RSS?

The simplest way to find out if a site supports RSS is by looking for the orange RSS buttons on the site you are interested in.

What software tools are required to use RSS?

You need to download an RSS Reader in order to first register the site(s) you wish to keep track of.

A free tool may be downloaded from this site. Click here to download your free RSS Reader.

Note: In some cases you may need to upgrade your Windows or Mac O/S with a free upgrade to enable the RSS Reader to work properly.

Now what do I do?

Follow the instructions on the download site. The site clearly explains how the tool works and guides you through its use.

I've done all that, now what do I do?

Just as you used to bookmark your favourite sites in the past, now you can have the data delivered to you rather than you having to hunt for it.

Find the sites with the Orange RSS button and copy the URL into your new RSS Reader. Then when a site is modified you will be able to see at a glance what changes have been made and decide whether or not to visit the site to see these changes.

Who has control of the sites that I register in my RSS Reader?

You do! If you no longer want to see the site updates then simply remove the site URL from the list in your RSS Reader.

Similarly with the RSS Reader. If you dont want to have this tool on your computer then simply uninstall it.