Let me introduce you to the fabulous world of RSS subscriptions and readers. I keep telling you to subscribe, and there’s always one of those orange icons on everyone’s site. What does it all mean?
What is an RSS?
RSS subscriptions are a feed that you can send to numerous different readers. If you are subscribed to many sites, that reader can be the place you go to view all of those sites in one place. It makes being a blog reader much more convenient, and fun! As I have been an avid blog follower for years, I have tried many different RSS feed readers, and my favorite setup I have outlined here so you too can enjoy the blogosphere from the ease of one site.
My Favorite Reader
My home page is set to iGoogle, which is where I direct all of my RSS subscriptions. This is where I can see all of my favorite blogs on one page. If I want to, I can simply click on a specific article that sounds interesting to read the whole thing, and it opens up in a new tab or window. It even colors the post links to mark unread posts, which makes it super easy to see new articles I haven’t read yet.
Set Up Your Subscriptions
So, where to begin? Here is a simple step-by-step instruction on how to begin organizing your blog subscriptions. Note that this is simply my preferred way to follow my favorite blogs. If you don’t have a Google account, you will have to sign up to create a reader like I outline below. There are many, many other ways to follow blogs, and I am sharing with you how to set up what I think is the easiest, most aesthetically pleasing RSS reader!
- Be sure you are logged in to your Google account (logging in to your Gmail will do the trick).
- Go to your favorite blog or website, and look for the little RSS icon, or where they have a link to subscribe. It should be at the top of the page, or on the sidebar of most blogs. Don’t choose to subscribe by email (unless that is what you prefer), so if they ask for your email address, that is the wrong link.
- When you find the RSS feed link, select +Add to Google (or Subscribe with Google, depending on the type of RSS feed), and add to Google Homepage.
- If you are logged into Google (important!), you can begin to see boxes of your selected RSS feeds on your iGoogle homepage. You will also see some other windows and boxes, which you can easily delete by clicking the little arrow on the top right bar of the box, and deleting the gadget.
- To customize the placement of all your feeds, simply drag the box to the preferred location. I have all of my food blogs in one column, pro-bloggers in the middle, and architecture/design blogs in the third column. I also have my favorites sorted from top to bottom.
- Once a month, I go through my iGoogle reader and reorganize everything, eliminating blogs I no longer read anymore. A great post on simplifying your Google reader was just written by my new favorite blog: Might & Main.
Have you subscribed yet?
To Learning & Love,
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I had that same iGoogle theme some time ago!
It’s so cute!
Now I’ve changed for a linear green one, I needed calm
I love it, too, Euforilla! But, like you, I think it’s time for a change – something simpler. Not sure what theme yet, though.
Thanks so much for the compliment Amanda!
For some reason I’ve never gotten into using iGoogle, but I decided to give it another chance after reading this. I’m hooked already! Definitely switching over from Google Reader.
Awesome you gave iGoogle another chance! iGoogle I find the most pleasing on the eyes, and for keeping track of what I have/haven’t read. I love how you can customize the theme, too. Have fun
Thank’s for the advice Amanda, I’ve just set up an account and it has already made things so much easier for me!
That’s awesome, Josh! So glad I could help
to be honest, i’ve never liked igoogle or the ggl reader so much. i used each one for a couple of days to try them out, then the love affair ended too soon… so i used bloglines for three years. i’ve recently switched services and now i use both a desktop-based (&open-source) reader and bloglovin. i find these more useful, as i have to keep track of (literally) thousands of blogs. dedicated blogger i am!
i thought i’d suggest a follow-up post on advantages or disadvantages of using web rss readers or desktop-based ones. i could suggest a few ideas if you want..///random thought
oxx
I haven’t explored the world of desktop readers, so I will have to give them a try! Thanks for the suggestion, and I’m searching up on readers now. Great idea on a follow-up post, too!
OH my gosh.
I have been wondering how to do this! I reallllly love your blog. I just added it to my google reader
So happy the post helped you, Justine! And thanks so much for the wonderful comment!
Great intro to RSS. Love the blog! #addingyoutogooglereadernow
Thanks for the comment and follow!
Hi Amanda. This is way better than email subscribing. I use iGoogle too – now I have a separate page set up to capture blogs I like. Thanks for the help.
Oh, yeah, way better than getting all those emails! Thanks for stopping by
The photo of you igoogle page is so pretty and organised! How do you make it look like that with the name of the blog at the top of the moveable box? I have just started using igoogle and all I have is the google reader gadget on the home page.
Hannah
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