What makes this special is that the headlines (topic titles and description, without the actual post text) are available as RSS news feed. The FAQs below hopefully answer some of your questions.
What is RSS and what is it good for?
RSS is the abbreviation for "Rich Site Summary", a standard for packing information about a web site into a small XML file. These files are at the core of many syndication efforts. By collecting and combining RSS files, it's possible to create applications or web sites that offer summary links into a much wider part of the web. This means you can collect headlines from InstallSite as well as many news sites and display them in a single application, or on your mobile device, or even include them in your own web site (please contact webmaster@installsite.org before doing this).
If you see a headline of interest, click on it to read the full article. Note that the news forum is read-only, so you can't post replies or start new topics.
Where can I find RSS News Reader programs?
There is a great number of RSS clients available, for many platforms, as freeware, shareware or commercial product. Some of the well known readers for Windows are:
- FeedReader: Freeware, displays notification window when new headlines arrive (much like MSN Messenger)
- Wildgrape NewsDesk: Freeware, includes keyword filter
- NewsGator: Commercial, integrates with MS Outlook
- RSSBandit: Actually a C# sample from MSDN. The article also includes technical information about RSS.
How do I add the InstallSite Newsfeed to my Reader?
The actual steps depend on your reader. Basically you add the URL http://forum.install...et/newsfeed.php as a new channel. Then you should be receiving the headlines.
Where can I find more News Feeds?
Most readers include lists of available feeds. In addition, there are web directories that list feeds. Finally, you may notice a red [RSS] or [XML] icon on some web sites, which enables you to add their feed to your reader.