Web feeds can be used to follow websites, including this one.
Use web feeds to subscribe to websites and get the latest content in one place.
Feeds put you in control. It’s like subscribing to a podcast, or following a company on Facebook. You don’t need to pay or hand over your email address. You get the latest content without having to visit lots of sites, and without cluttering up your inbox. Had enough? Easy: unsubscribe from the feed.
You just need a special app called a newsreader.
It’s like podcasts — but for reading.
Subscribe to this site
This site has multiple feeds:
The feed pages should be viewable directly in your browser, or you can copy the URL into your preferred feed reader app.
The feeds are also listed on the subscribe page, along with an email newsletter option if you prefer.
App recommendations
I love Feedbin and NetNewsWire.
Feedbin is a good value at $5/mo. The interface is nice and the website is very fast. It is supported by lots of third party apps, which is especially nice on mobile. Feedbin keeps all your read articles in sync between all your devices.
I also get a lot of use out of its email newsletter feature. There is a lot of great content in newsletters, but I don’t want distracting stuff coming into my inbox. Instead, I have my mail provider automatically forward all mailing lists to Feedbin. This keeps my inbox uncluttered (… well, less cluttered) and gives me lots of great stuff to read when I open my feed reader.
Feedbin does have an official app, but I often use NetNewsWire. It’s excellent and free, with no ads. Aside from the way I use it with Feedbin, it supports several other RSS systems as well as iCloud.
Feed recommendations
There is probably some number of posts per day that represents the critical mass of web feeds. If you don’t have enough, you probably won’t bother checking the app. (Similar to the onboarding problem for a new social media feed app.)
I have made some personal recommendations here:
Browse lists of blogs:
- Blogroll, “a humanly curated list of fine personal & independent blogs that are updated regularly”
- https://ooh.directory/: “A collection of […] blogs about every topic”
- https://micro.blog: A micro blogging site; all of the public blogs it hosts have RSS feeds
Notes for site owners
Are you a site owner interested in RSS?
- Check out the posts I’ve written about RSS.
- Read What RSS Needs by Mark Nottingham, and consider participating in the IETF mailing list about feeds as he suggests.
I’m always interested in hearing from people who are interested in RSS.