In this series, I will briefly talk about tools that I love and that I use often. I will keep things brief, as there is already a lot of good content that goes into more depth.
How do you follow and consume web content? Are you manually checking news sites, blogs, and similar sources for updates regularly? If so, you might be interested in learning about news aggregators and web feeds like RSS and Atom!
RSS stands for “RDF Site Summary” or “Really Simple Syndication.” It’s a format for creating web feeds that you can subscribe to. Atom is a similar standard for web feeds.
A news aggregator lets you manage and consume various web feeds. There are many options available available!, and most support multiple platforms. For example, you can browse your feeds and mark items for later on your phone, then read the content in detail on your desktop.
A screenshot from Feedly, the news aggregator I use.
I’ve been using news aggregators and web feeds for a long time—they’ve become essential for how I consume web content. Currently, I use Feedly as my reader application. It works well on both my phone and as a web app, and it offers a robust free tier.
With Feedly, I follow Hacker News, several blogs, some Reddit sites, and various news outlets. I quickly browse new content a few times a day, read the interesting articles, and save others for later if I don’t have time to read them immediately.