syndicate my site

As you can see I have now added a link to this blog's feed (the orange "XML" button in the sidebar), so you can read my new posts from the comfort of your own newsreader. For those of you who don't know what XML, RSS, Atom feeds, and all the rest of it are (I didn't have the first idea until just recently), I'll give you a simple explanation:

Whenever I post a new entry on this blog, it's automatically converted into an XML "feed", which can be published on other websites, and is automatically updated. This is good if you want to have the latest news headlines displayed on your site, for example. It also saves a lot of time if you regularly read articles published on many different sites. Instead of surfing to each site one after another, and checking for updates, you can use one of hundreds of newsreader services or programs, enter the feed address of all the sites you want to subscribe to, and then your newsreader automatically receives the latest updates from all your subscriptions, so you only need to visit one page, and you can browse through the news headlines, check the stock market, and catch up on all your favourite blogs (including mine of course!)

So, if you don't currently use a newsreader, and would like to give it a try, the one I'm currently using is Google Reader. If you want to subscribe to my blog in Google Reader, you need to sign up for an account (I think you can use your gmail account if you have one), then go to "edit subsrciptions", add a feed URL, and enter my site's feed URL: http://www.drawmyface.co.uk/blogger/atom.xml You'll see a preview of the subscription, then just hit "Subscribe" and you're done. Now every time you come back to Google Reader, it'll show you the latest entry from my blog. If you don't fancy Google, there're plenty more to choose from. Newsgator is another popular one.

Tags: RSS |syndication |feeds |drawmyface