Subscribing to Feeds

The PNA website takes advantage of some of the most advanced web technologies currently available. The use of feeds is one prime example.

RSS/XML feeds are literally transforming the way people can access information from the World Wide Web. Up to this point it has been necessary to visit each website manually to check for and read updates. This can be very time consuming, and is hardly efficient, especially considering the power of computers.

Now with more and more websites incorporating feed technology it is possible to have all your favorite websites automatically checked for updates and presented in one central location for ease of reading. In other words, instead of you having to go out to your favorite websites, your favorite websites can now come to you! Since only changes or updates are reported, this saves you time from visiting websites only to discover that there is nothing really new. In other words, using a feed reader you can get the latest PNA news and updates delivered to you as soon as they are published!

Another exciting type of feed that you've probably heard about is the "podcast". Podcasts are simply feeds containing audio or video content, and a few of our churches are already using them for their sermons.

There are two essential ingredients to make feeds work for you:

1. The website(s) you visit must be able to deliver updates in a standard feed format (called "RSS" or "Atom" XML). You can usually tell if a site is feed ready by the universal feed symbol or a link labeled "RSS" or "XML" on the website. (In fact, the latest browsers detect feeds on a page and display the symbol). Most major news and sports websites are feed ready, as are blogs and services such as ebay. The PNA website news, blog, and PartnerLinks are all available in feed formats.

2. You need a feed reader (also called "aggregator") to subscribe to your favorite feeds. There are several different types available, and it is very likely that you already have one and don't know it. We provide tips below on how to choose a feed reader.

Choosing a Feed Reader

If you are new to feeds...

We recommend using a feed reader that you may already have. For example, Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox web browsers have very basic feed reading capability built-in to them. Some e-mail systems also are capable of reading feeds, such as Outlook 2007, Thunderbird, and the web-based Yahoo! Mail beta. Or, you may already be using a web "portal" and could simply add new feeds to it (see description below). Any of these options would be good places to start your feed reading experience.


If you are interested in delving more into feeds...

Consider the following types of feed readers:

Web portals. These are one-stop sites that allow you to customize the types of information you receive. While much of the content is proprietary to each site, most permit you to add XML feeds. The best known of these portals are My Yahoo!, My AOL, My MSN, Windows Live, and the personalized iGoogle homepage. Serious feed subscribers should consider Netvibes. Web portals are especially good for people who are interested in news feeds, or who subscribe to no more than a dozen or so feeds.

Web-based readers. These are websites that have highly advanced features for reading feeds. The most prominent of these are Google Reader and Bloglines, but also worth checking out are Newsgator and Rojo.  Web-based readers are very powerful and especially suited for a large number of feeds and for reading blogs.

Stand-alone programs. While not as popular now that web-based readers are so advanced, some people prefer an application that runs separately from their web browser.  There are several available, but the free RSS Bandit is a good choice for Windows users.