What is RSS?

Rich Site Summary (or Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format for content distribution. Below, About.com is offering an RSS and JavaScript feed with headlines, descriptions and links back to this GuideSite for the full story. This allows you to easily feature or check out the latest headlines from About.

There are two main ways to take advantage of these feeds. First, you can use them to feature the latest headlines from About on your Web site. All you have to do is paste a short snippet of JavaScript into the code of your page. Here's how:

A) Simple Version:

1. Cut and paste the following lines of JavaScript into your html page.
    
2. Optional: You can control the number of links that are displayed on your site by changing the number shown here:<script>ShowHeadlines(10)</script>

B) Advanced Version:

For people who want to write their own display html using JavaScript...

1. Cut and paste the following block of JavaScript into your html page.
    
2. Write/Modify the ShowHeadlines Function to customize your display of the data.

<script language="JavaScript" src="https://z.about.com/6/js/b.txt?s=linux"></script>
<script>
function Items(t,u,d){while(d.indexOf("\"")!=-1){d=d.replace("\"","");}
document.writeln('<a href="'+u+'" title="'+d+'">'+t+'</a><br>')}
function ShowHeadlines(c){
var i=0;                      //counter
var l=this.zIBlgI.length-1;   //length of the item array
c=(c)?(c*3)-1:29;               //calculate how many links to display[default 10] 
if(c&&l;>c)l=c;                //make sure items to display is less than number of items
var h;
h=('<a href="https://about.com">')
h=('<img src="https://z.about.com/d/lg/rss.gif" border=0></a><br>')
h+=(' <a href="'+zIBlg[1]+'">'+zIBlg[0]+'</a><br>')
h+=('Read the current <a href="https://about.com">About.com</a> Headlines:<br>')
document.write(h);
while(i<l)Items(this.zIBlgI[i++],this.zIBlgI[i++],this.zIBlgI[i++]);
}
ShowHeadlines(7)
</script>

That takes care of easily displaying these feeds on your Web site.

Next, let's move onto another use of RSS, and that's news aggregation.

Using one of the many popular news aggregators (see below for links), you can have the latest headlines from this GuideSite (or any other site with an RSS feed) delivered directly to your desktop. This makes checking out your favorite sites quick and easy.

Name	RDF location	RSS location	Description
Focus on Linux			Most recent Focus on Linux Headlines

If you're interested in reading more on RSS, try What is RSS and How Do You Use It? or Sharing Your Site with RSS or the RSS specification. About.com is currently using the RSS .91 format.

Feedster and Syndic8.com have a large directory of available feeds. There are many newsreader applications which use RSS files. Here are some popular ones:

• My Yahoo!
• NewsGator Microsoft Outlook
• Headline Viewer Windows
• NetNewsWire MacOS X
• Amphetadesk Windows, MacOS X and earlier, Linux
• Bloglines Web-based
• Radio Userland Windows, MacOS X and earlier (newsreader is part of software)
• and others

If you decide to syndicate any About sites, we'd appreciate attribution to About.com, either as text ("from About.com") or with this 85 x 31 graphic. These feeds are free to use, but we ask that you do not publish the full text of our articles. Please click on the orange XML button above to get the corresponding feed.

Any questions, comments, or concerns? Contact Customer Care