RSS Readers???

[elizabethlmccoy]

Did you know you can subscribe to blogs???? What does that mean?? Well subscribing to a blog makes it kind of like getting an online newsletter in your email. You don't have to go to every blog site every day to be able to stay up-to-date and read all the posts. The post show up in your reader. Some readers offer offline setting where you can download the posts and read them when you're traveling or in another room without internet connection.

For instance I have 103 blogs that I like to read. Instead of every few days going around to 103 websites I have subscribed to there RSS feeds and now use my RSS Reader to read their new posts. I never miss a post either.

I use Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader/) It is free and saves me alot of time.

Do you use an RSS reader???? What reader do you use??? Are you interesting in starting to use one???

[Janet]

I'm just starting to learn about rss feeds - and finally signed up at bloglines to see what all it was about and I have to say I LOVE popping in there to see which ones have updated. Saves a TON of time!

[elizabethlmccoy]

sure does! I'm off to add some members to my subscriptions

[loonyhiker]

I found out about google reader through DSP and I love it! Someone told me they like bloglines better so I tried bloglines but for some reason I kept getting error messages so I went back to google reader. It is so wonderful not having to check all those websites and I can tell when someone has updated their blogs just by looking. I also have my favorite cartoons like Cathy and Better or Worse on here too.

[elizabethlmccoy]

loony...err Pat. Aren't RSS feeds the coolest!!!!

Watch out their addicting LOL

[Beachcomber]

I just started using Google Reader. I put their "next" button into my bookmarks then I can click on the next button and it takes me to the blogs and I watching. I keep clicking on it until I have gone through all of the updated blogs. Very cool.

[Amanda]

I just have the RSS feeds on my google homepage. I don't subscribe to many, so I haven't gotten into it much.

[sandraihw]

I really dig Bloglines. I have different folders set up for scrapbooking/photography blogs, knitting blogs, and podcasts that I subscribe to. It even keeps track of the blogposts I've read or yet to read, and I can earmark entries from each blog that I want to save as new.

[shazzt]

The only downside of the readers is that it is so tempting to subscribe to "just one more" .... :)

[dawn-in-nz]

I just voted for the second one from the bottom :lol:

So now I've been and joined Google Reader, I never knew of it before!

[elizabethlmccoy]

The only downside of the readers is that it is so tempting to subscribe to "just one more" .... :)

LOL so true....I usually subscribe to everything as I go along...(same with bookmarks) then as I'm reading the posts I'll evaluate whether it is till profitable to subscribe to it.

[elizabethlmccoy]

I just voted for the second one from the bottom :lol:

So now I've been and joined Google Reader, I never knew of it before!

woo hoo dawn...just subscribed to your blog too!!

[dawn-in-nz]

Thanks Elizabeth. Do you do the DSP blog or is it a team effort? I posted a comment on it today to say my LO of the week photo isn't showing up anymore, it just shows a broken link. I was hoping someone could fix it - after being chosen I'd like for it to actually show up :yes:

[mom2triplets04]

Can you tell me more? I don't know what this is? Do you have to set it up like put in the blog addresses you frequent? Where do I sign up?

[Tink2Zoe]

Oops, I think I voted Outlook and just realized it is not; but what came with explorer when we updated to Vista. I also use SharpReader. I prefer SharpReader because I can rename. I actually just assign numbers to each, i.e. 1-Scrapbooking; 2-Freebies; 3-stores; 4-bad example family, etc. On each I limit the number of blogsites so I don't have to scroll down.

[mom2triplets04]

I just joined the google one. Looks pretty cool. Now, to add all my links. Yikes!

I do have a question though. Some of my family members have blogs but they are private. Does this work with private sights too? I keep getting an error when I add their blog name.

[elizabethlmccoy]

Sorry all I was offline since saturday morning...I'm back and now to answer your questions:

Dawn==I fixed your photo so you're all set!
Mom2==I think you figured things out....i'm not sure about private blogs I don't have any on my list add it and try it out you can always remove it.
Tink==I've never heard of sharpreader but I like how you've organized them.

One thing I like about google reader is that I can adjust the settings to only show those blogs that have been updated and have posts I haven't read yet.

[mom2triplets04]

The google one is really cool. The only problem as I said before is my private ones it doesn't read. Thanks for sharing this information. It's saved me so much time.

[BethyNixon]

So cool . . . I think I just set-up the feeder on my blog!

http://bethnixon.blogspot.com/

If anyone subscribes, would you let me know if it works!!

Thanks!

[BethyNixon]

Does anyone want to share some of the things they subscribe too?? I just started using igoogle (thanks Liz for the info on it) and I want to use this reader thing efficiently!!

I've subscribed to the DSP Blog, my own blog (LOL), and Sprague Lab blog. What else is good to do??

[Donut]

Beth, I added the Google feeder a few days ago, but havent really looked at it much or figured it out, but I just added your blog and it worked!

[dawn-in-nz]

Beth, yes the feeder link on your blog works :tup: love your blog, it's so well done.

Elizabeth, thanks for fixing my LO of the Day, however although it's now showing up the old broken link is still there and so there's a large blank space under the photo that is showing up. :eek:

[BethyNixon]

dawn . . . send me a link to your page and I'll try to fix it up after I get the kids settled for the night!

[dawn-in-nz]

Thanks Beth but it's not my Blog the problem is on, it's the DSP blog :yes:
One of my LOs was chosen as LO of the Day and it showed for about a day and then after that it was just a broken link. I told Elizabeth about it and she fixed it - except that now both are showing up, my LO and the broken link. It's not that important really but it detracts from the look of the blog.

[BethyNixon]

oh, I got that Dawn . . . I can get in and fix the DSP blog so I can look at it if you want! What day were you layout-of-the-day??

[dawn-in-nz]

Beth, was it you who said you had subscribed to your own blog on the Google Reader? I tried to subscribe to mine but it just keeps telling me there is no feed available, even if I type the whole address in. It's strange because I've had no trouble in subscribing to about 20 other blogs.

[dawn-in-nz]

Wow that was quick! It was on Monday the 27 August thank you.

[BethyNixon]

Well, you have to have the feeder on your own blog. I went to feedburner.com and set-up my own site with the feed. (it's that little orange thing, the chicklet, on the top right of my blog)

That way it's available for others to subscribe too. It was much easier than I thought it would be!

I can subscribe to any that have that little chicklet or the feed option.

[BethyNixon]

oh, son of a gun . . . I can only edit posts that *I* made. So, Liz will have to do it. I'm sure she'll check-in in the next day or so!

[dawn-in-nz]

Thanks for trying anyway Beth. Oh so you're with FeedBurner, that probably makes a difference as I'm with GoogleReader.

[BethyNixon]

eh, I'm still new to all this stuff so I may be completely wrong . . . but I had to register with FeedBurner so people can subscribe to my blog. I use Google Reader too when I subscribe. FeedBurner just lets people subscribe to my blog with the reader of their choice.

I think! LOL At least that's how I'm seeing it.

[mom2triplets04]

What's the address for the DSP blog? Want to add that to my reader. I have about 30 blogs now that I am linked to. A lot of them are those which I check for freebies. And I added some links from here as I like to read what everyone wrote for the day.

dawn - I think you need to go to your template and or settings and change it to feed all and then your link will work. If you are private it will not show up.

[BethyNixon]

DSP Blog:
http://digitalscrapbookplace.blogspot.com/

see that little orange thing on the top right? That's feedburner . . . DSP registered with them to set their blog up so people could subscribe to it. I clicked on that and chose Google Reader as my method of getting the feed.

Feedburner looks complicated but they really walk you through it real easy!

[Amanda]

If you use Blogger there is a link at the very bottom of your page that says "Subscribe To"

[dawn-in-nz]

No my blog is not a private one Moms2T04. Elizabeth said she subscribed to it the other day and if it worked then you don't need to have subscribed to FeedBurner because I haven't.

All of this has me completely bamboozled really. I haven't had any trouble subscribing to lots of blogs with GoogleReader and I don't recall seeing the FeedBurner logo on any of their blogs - mind you I wasn't looking for it!

I think I'll just have to go and check it all out properly.

[Amanda]

Sign up for Google Reader and you can add subscriptions right there with the web address. Or click on the "Subscribe To" at the bottom of people's blogs.

[BethyNixon]

I tried that and it didn't work unless they had something like FeedBurner . . . must go try again as I must be missing something!

[dawn-in-nz]

Well I've been reading up on FeedBurner and I'm even more confused than ever!

I'm not going to bother using it because it doesn't look like I need to. I had a look around in my blog options and changed a few things and then I tried to subscribe to it in GoogleReader again - this time it worked fine! Go figure.....

[BethyNixon]

You know, I don't know what the heck I'm doing either!! LOL

I tried and tired last night to add a blog and it wouldn't work, and, viola', I did it with no problem this morning!!

So . . . I'm going to shut-up now and just enjoy my new feeds!!

(and I just added yours Dawn with NO problem!!)

[elizabethlmccoy]

actually that's not feedburner...that's just a logo or quick link showing you can subscribe to that feed.

Feedburner is more for those who want to track those who subscribe to their blogs...mainly the count.

[elizabethlmccoy]

i have to go right now i'll be back to clear things up a bit better later today. :)

[elizabethlmccoy]

TUTORIAL/INFO
Adding the little feed icon in the URL bar for easy subscribing. This is for a blogger blog. Other blogs do this automatically.

Please goto your blog settings-->Site Feed

Under the Post Feed Redirect URL option type in this url with YOUR blog info
http://YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Save the changes then you're set! You will now see the little feed icon in the url bar.

[elizabethlmccoy]

here is a great blog to subscribe tooo it's not scrapbook related but it is digital photography related...its kind of like a tutorial blog/class:

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do

[ChristineG]

Help, I have no idea where to start. I use My Yahoo for my email, etc and I see that is on the list, but now what? I haven't really done anything with blogs, so totally clueless here.

[debbers]

For Palm users, or Treo phone owners, AvantGo (http://www.avantgo.com/) is a free service that will sync up your fav newsfeeds (well, the first ones are free).

I couldn't find the direct RSS information at blogspot. It seems I just got too technical. All I had to do was input the blog's URL into my AvantGo "Create a Channel" and it found the feed.

So ... the reason I use AvantGo is because my Palm phone service came with a MUCHO expensivo internet package. So AvantGo sits on my PC at home and work, where I use my broadband to suck down my feeds, and then AvantGo *syncs* them to my phone.

When I wait places, or quiet time before I sleep - I catch up on my news headlines right out of my Palm. Which is also my phone.

Love technology.

If anyone else has a Palm or Treo and needs help with getting this set up, let me know.

deb

[doda]

So, I've subscsribed to google reader. I have read through the DSP blog on google today, but am curious where you would post, ie to win the giveaway. I didn't noticed anywhere to make comments or to post.

I'll catch on eventually.

[elizabethlmccoy]

Help, I have no idea where to start. I use My Yahoo for my email, etc and I see that is on the list, but now what? I haven't really done anything with blogs, so totally clueless here.

here is a faq's page for my yahoo rss part:
http://my.yahoo.com/s/rss-faq.html

See if that might help. I'm not a my yahoo user so I'm not sure on specifics.

But let me know if that doesn't help.

[elizabethlmccoy]

So, I've subscsribed to google reader. I have read through the DSP blog on google today, but am curious where you would post, ie to win the giveaway. I didn't noticed anywhere to make comments or to post.

I'll catch on eventually.

you will need to click through to the actual blog and there is a place to post comments. Not every post needs comments. Just the give aways to enter to win. Usually clicking on the title of the post once you have it open will bring up the blog's website.

Once you're there at the bottom of a post there is a little link that says post comment

try it and let me know if that gets you there.

[kydeb]

Okay, I'm a little lost. I subscribed to google reader and was able to subscribe to a couple of blogs; however, when I try to subscribe to the DSP blog, instead of getting the screen asking if I want to add it to my home page or reader, I get a download file link. What should I do? Thanks in advance for the assistance!!

[diturpin]

Kydeb, that happened to me to. Just copy the url and on the google reader page, click add subscription and paste in the url. I had to do that with a couple of pages. Hope it helps!

[ChristineG]

hey I managed to get DSP's blog on my yahoo page! Wahoo!

[RoadMap4Us]

I think I figured this out! I'm trying out Google Reader. We'll see how this works!

[kydeb]

thanks, diane!! i'll give that a try!!
deb

just tried it and it worked! thanks again, diane!!

[elizabethlmccoy]

http://feeds.feedburner.com/DigitalScrapbookPlace

There is the link for subscribing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[elizabethlmccoy]

ooh hey be on the look out for an announcement coming soon!!!! Those of you who already have readers will be excited. :)

[Kerr]

Hello, My name is Kerri and I am a RSS feed addict. LOL

I voted not listed...because its not :) LOL but what I use is something I will never be without...Flock.

Flock is a web browser like internet explorer but has all these wonderful built in features. With flock If I run into something on the web that I want to blog (on my blog of course) I simply right click...click "blog this" and viola it already has me signed in to my blog and all information pasted for me in the "post" window. Then I am free to edit the post accordingly then upload it to my blog.

All this in mere seconds! I adore flock and would not and do not use any other browser. Flock of course also has a built in rss feed reader. So I can just click a little icon up top and boom a little window slides out on the left and shows me all my blogs and has a number in bold next to each blog to let me know how many new updates each website has. Its amazing!

I suggest you all become apart of my "flock" LOL (I know cheesy LOL)

If anyone has any questions about it just PM me or my name is kerrerickson on hello.

[elizabethlmccoy]

thanks kerr another great share!!!

[PacificTonz]

I use firefox so I have their live bookmarks set up as default, the trouble is I can't really figure out how to use it effectively, it shows me everything not just whats new so I never really know what is waiting without ducking into everyones site anyway. User error most likely.:o

[WhitsEnd]

The only downside of the readers is that it is so tempting to subscribe to "just one more" .... :)

ROTFL!
i am "subscribed to about 200 blogs.......thank goodness they don't all update every day!!!
But i LOVE my Google Reader! Makes life so much easier!

[the_littleminx]

I'm not a blog addict yet, but give me time. My hubby is the king of addicts, so it's only predictable that I'll eventually catch the bug. LOL

[Marriedin79]

So ... four of you indicated that you use Outlook 2007 (actually 3 because I am one of the four). I can't figure out how to get the RSS feeds sent to me automatically. Any suggestions?

[Marriedin79]

^^^^ Just figured out that the RSS feeds folder was hiding at the bottom of my folder list. DUH

[elizabethlmccoy]

yippie...b/c I wasn't sure exactly what to tell you :)