What Is RSS?

What Is RSS?

Our RSS Feed:     

Want the latest card making idea? Maybe you want to keep up to date with the latest designs and other card making news?

Our RSS feed keeps you up to date with what's going on at the making-handmade-cards.com web site. From the latest greeting card ideas, tips and techniques, to announcements of freebies, new online videos, products and more...

Now Note: This is different & seperate to our Free Card Making E- Magazine. If you want acccess to lots of freebies and special deals, subscribe to our Free Card Making E- Magazine here...

OK, So What Is RSS Then?

Hi! Claire here.

Lately, I've been seeing orange RSS or XML buttons more and more, not knowing what they were. An example of an orange RSS button is shown just to the left.

RSS buttons can take many different forms. Some buttons even have 'RSS' or 'XML' written on them. The RSS button shown just above, is fast becoming the most commonly used icon for RSS. Anyway, I decided to look into it...

Wow!

It's "the next big thing" -- you can use it to get newsfeeds from CNN or BBC, as well as just about anything else, including news on upcoming movies, DVD releases, your favorite band's tour updates, etc.

Once you get started, it's like having your favorite parts of the Web come to you. No need to go out and check for updates all the time.

No more bookmarks for me!

"RSS" means "Really Simple Syndication." But that is just a fancy way of saying that you can keep up with all the updates to making-handmade-cards.com without having to check the site every week to see "what's new".

Here's what Making-Handmade-Cards.com releases through RSS:

• I let you know whenever I put up a new video, audio, web page, or section on the site;
• Or update an existing page;
• Or posts news about card making and related topics;
• And lots more!

As a result...

There are so many ideas, tips and inspirational things in Making-Handmade-Cards.com. People love "stumbling" upon those pages. They later write to tell me how they've been inspired by them or how they applied the designs, tips and techniques to their own handmade card making creations. Now, there's no need to "stumble" upon them...

I can share them with you from time to time through RSS. This gives you the "latest, secret and best of Making-Handmade-Cards.com" without you having to spend hours on the site.

Yes, RSS is amazing. If you can't tell, I'm completely addicted to it. No e-mail. No spam. It's so easy to subscribe and unsubscribe. If you get tired of me <SOB>, you just have to delete the feed. It's fab!

And once you start, you'll soon be tracking all your other favorite interests and news in the world.

How do you get started? Easy ...

Adding An RSS Feed To Your 'My Google' Page

If you've never used RSS before, don't worry - here's an example:

At this time, I recommend using Google's 'My Google' page (http://www.google.com/ig) to read your RSS Feeds because it's so easy to use.

Before You Begin:
In order to use 'MyGoogle' you need to have a google account/gmail address (it's free). If you already have an account then please skip this part, but if not, then here's what to do...

When you get to the 'MyGoogle' page, click on the 'Sign In' link (top right hand corner). Then click on the link that says 'Create an account now'. Come back here when you've finished the sign-up process, and I'll show you how to add RSS feeds to your 'MyGoogle' page...

Let's Try Adding Making-Handmade-Cards.com's RSS Feed To Your 'My Google' Page...

1. Scroll up to the top of the page, to get the address of this site's RSS Feed. You'll see some buttons. One is a small orange button. Another says 'Add To Google' and there's also a 'My Yahoo' button.  

 i) Orange 'RSS Feed' button: Most sites have this button so it's best to know how to use it.

Just right click your mouse over the RSS button, and click 'Copy Shortcut' ("Copy Link Location" for Mac.)

 

Now let's head over to your 'My Google' page...

2. Login to your 'My Google' page here: http://www.google.com/ig

3. Click on the 'add stuff' link, on the far right.

4. You'll be taken to a page that shows you lots of things that you can add to your 'My Google' page.

i) Click on the link on the left hand side that says 'Add feed or gadget'. A box will appear.

5. Paste this site's RSS Feed address into the box. You do this by pressing CTRL+V (or APPLE+V on Mac). Then press the 'Add' button.

6. If you are successful, this should appear below:

Added: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CardMakingBlog

7. The Making-Handmade-Cards.com feed should now be visible for you to see in you're 'MyGoogle' homepage: http://www.google.com/ig

 

SIDENOTE: In Step 4 I also showed you a button that says 'Add To Google'. This is much quicker to use but not all sites have it. But if you do spot it, here's how to subscribe using the 'Add To Google' button:

1.
Click on the 'Add to Google' button on Making-Handmade-Cards.com (or whatever site you're on)

2. An 'Add To Google' page comes up. Click 'Add To Google Homepage'.

3. And voila – it takes you straight back to your 'MyGoogle' homepage, with your new RSS feed already added.

 

ANOTHER QUICK TIP: Another quick and easy way to subscribe is to look in your address bar, for this orange button:

Your address bar is right at the top of your screen, where you see the address of the web page you're on. If you see a little orange button, then you can click on it (not all web sites have this). This will take you to a page where you can automatically add the site's RSS feed to your RSS Reader.

Click the 'Add To Google' option if you're using Google to read your RSS (as described above), and then 'Add to my Google Homepage'. If you can't see that option, click the 'More options' link, for a full list of RSS Readers.

 

And that's it! You're subscribed.

Now, every time the Making-Handmade-Cards.com's RSS feed is updated with the latest news, you'll be able to view it on your 'MyGoogle' page.

Other RSS Services

There are loads of other RSS readers and RSS services too. For example, instead of using 'MyGoogle', you may choose to use Yahoo or MSN's RSS services to read your RSS feeds instead. It all depends on which service you prefer (all three are free and there are lots of other services and RSS reader software out there too.)

You can subscribe to Making-Handmade-Cards.com's RSS feed directly on Yahoo and Google, by clicking directly on the buttons here...

 

Next, visit the Card Making Homepage...