What is RSS Feed?

An RSS (really simple syndication, wikipedia entry) feed is an XML file that is simply a list of articles (well, it could be a list of anything, but usually it’s used for online periodicals). It’s what drives most blogs. In its use on BPL, it’s a means to be able to see when new articles are posted without necessarily having to hit an actual Web page.

You can use RSS to either ask your browser to track when new articles or items are posted (details vary per browser, I use Safari and it’s fairly handy), or to consume articles or multiple feeds in separate applications called newsreaders. I track about 80 blogs on a daily basis (work and industry related, mostly), so a newsreader is handy for tracking that much information.

Hope this helps.
-Nathan

Thanks, Nathan. I think I know what RSS is now — but still don't know how to install/use it.

I use IE7. After clicking the icon, now, when I click "Tools", and then select "Feed Discovery" from the drop-down menu, BPL RSS shows up as a choice option. However, when I select it, the webpage just brings up this:

xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?
– rss version="2.0" xmlns:blogChannel="http://backend.userland.com/blogChannelModule"
–
Backpacking Light Magazine
http://www.backpackinglight.com/
Latest news, views, and reviews about lightweight hiking and backpacking from BackpackingLight.com, the website of Backpacking Light Magazine.
en
Copyright 2001-2006 Beartooth Media, Inc.
–
BackpackingLight Magazine
http://www.backpackinglight.com/backpackinglight/images/bplcomlogonew.gif
http://www.backpackinglight.com
BackpackingLight Magazine

But what is the above giving me?

I’ve gotten out of the loop with IE7 – been MacOS focused for about 6 months – but until I get home from working offsite and can launch XP, here are some links you may find useful.

Microsoft’s IE7 RSS Feature Tour

A three-part Microsoft Tutorial:
1. A tutorial in how RSS Works in IE7
2. Finding and Subscribing to RSS Feeds
3. Reading and Managing RSS Feeds

Hope this helps!
-Nathan

Thanks again, Nathan.