What is RSS?

RSS = Really Simple Syndication - otherwise named “news feed” or “RSS feed”, it is all the same thing.

What is RSS? This is something we often asked ourselves when starting out. Later on we were then asked what it is by friends and visitors. After explaining it a few times, we thought it would be worthwhile explaining it publicly. Hopefully you won’t be asking the same question after reading this.

Yes but… what is RSS?

RSS is a new type of technology which is being used by millions today. Before RSS came into the picture, one would have to bookmark any interesting websites. If you wanted to find out if anything new had been added to your chosen websites, you would have to go to your bookmarks and manually go through website.

If you have a number of websites you wish to visit daily, it takes quite a long time and you can end up missing new news - it’s just slow!

However when you subscribe to a websites RSS feed via Google, Bloglines, Yahoo! etc, all you need to do is go onto your RSS Reader, which will have updated news from all your chosen websites.

To put it simply - you subscribe to something with a snazzy name (RSS feed), and when you want to find out what’s new on the websites you subscribed to you just check out your RSS reader.

That’s all fine but… what’s wrong with bookmarking?

1. If you bookmark a lot, it can be pretty slow because you don’t know if the website has been updated and also whether you’ve read through what is currently there!
2. When you want to check up for updates you do the work. You locate the bookmark, click it, go to the website etc. It’s slow!
3. You can miss information when manually checking websites and that is boring.
4. If a website does not update regularly then you keep checking back - again, more effort and a waste of time.

Fair enough… but what are the pros of RSS?

1. You see your chosen websites updated news all on one page.
2. The reader tell you which of your chosen websites have been updated.
3. You can see your chosen websites which have not been updated.
4. It saves you time by subscribing to RSS feeds and not bookmarking lots of websites.
5. It’s not hard to use… you just need to know how.

Right! How do I do it?

• 1) The first step is getting an RSS Reader, I use Google Reader it’s simple to use… all you need to do is click on the link below and sign up - it doesn’t cost anything, to get one you just need your email address.

(However as I mentioned earlier there are other RSS readers like Bloglines etc I would suggest you start with something easy and simple like Google Reader, I have found it’s the easiest to use.)

Click here to get Google Reader here, or maybe continue reading first to get a full understanding…

• 2) Once you’ve got Google Reader, the second step is subscribing to your chosen websites RSS feed. You can give it a go now and go to this link, where you will see our updated news page. Subscribe to our RSS feed. Once the page loads, you will see our news feed. At the very top, highlighted in cream you will have the subscription option: you will see a drop down menu, select Google and hit the subscribe button - you may want to tick the box which says “Always use Google to subscribe to feeds” as it will automatically do this for you in the future on your computer.

When you subscribe to a couple more feeds you’ll begin to see that a reader works in the way that an email system does.

What I mean is, that if you haven’t read a new article on your reader, it will look unread, much like an unopened email. If you still get a bit stuck, you can easily email us with your questions, or take a look at Google Reader’s help page.

Wait! How do I actually find the RSS Feeds?

It’s actually very easy. A lot of optimized websites will ‘advertise’ their RSS Feed, but others won’t - so if they don’t, there’s always a way of doing it through the browser or reader.

Just don’t forget that a lot of RSS feed icons do go crazy in how they’re designed. See the example below!

Subscribing to RSS Feeds via your Google Reader

As you can see above, I’ve coloured parts of my google reader… if you want a closer look, click on the image, you’ll see it full sized.

• Orange: A list of news articles.
• Greeny/Blue: All the RSS feeds I subscribe to.
• Pink: If you click this box, you’ll be able to enter the URL of a website (www.letters-to-you.com) and if there is an RSS feed, your reader will find it.
• Purple: Your reader navigation, which includes starred items, all items etc.

Check out your reader, take a closer look and literally just play around with it, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to use.

Subscribing to RSS Feeds via your Browser

Many good Internet browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari etc) actually locate the feed and allow you to add the feed easily by “clicking a button”, if you look at your address bar (see below), on the right you will likely see some type of RSS button. Bearing in mind that they do differ on different browsers. Below are two images; one in Firefox and the other in Safari.

All you really need to do is click on the feed button, and you’ll be able to subscribe to this feed.

RSS in Plain English

A Video ‘tutorial’ from ProBlogger - one of the easiest ways I learned about RSS Feeds.

RSS In Plain English

Good luck and happy subscribing!

Plurk; everyone’s talking about it - but why?

Plurk, Plurking, Plurkkind, Plurktacular, Plurfection; everyone’s talking about it. But what is it? Why should I join?

What’s Plurk?

Noun. plurk (plüer-kh) - A really snazzy site that allows you to showcase the events that make up your life in deliciously digestible chunks. Low in fat, 5 calories per serving, yet chock full of goodness.

Verb. plurk (plüer-kh) - To chronicle the events of your always on, action-packed, storybook, semi-charmed kinda life.

Borrowed from Plurk itself

What’s Plurk (seriously)?

Plurk is a type of profile, similar to Twitter it also has the same concept as Facebook, Myspace etc - connecting people, friends, family in one place when we are all over the world.

Instead of Plurk being a profile, it is more a time line you enter what you want, what you’re doing, you share something… ask something, give something, say how you’re feeling all within a “comment field”, it appears in your time line and others who have friended and faned you. You reply to others and over time meet new people, talk to everyone more and yet - there’s no pressure. If you say something, you do. If you don’t, you don’t.

The best thing for me personally is, because it isn’t based around web 2.0, designers etc there isn’t the same pressure I have found on more design areas. It really is a place for everyone.

Why Plurk, Olivia?

Plurk suddenly took off and I found a lot of my friends literally begging me to join. I’m often a bit slow with jumping on the bandwagon and pretty much refused; it sounded silly you see.

Then I got out of the wrong side of the bed and joined Plurk, I figured I’d join to say “You know what guys, it’s just not that great” I still have yet to say that and doubt I will in the future.

Plurk I have found, is basically a new, original way of connecting with your friends, family etc. Plurk is also very simple and you can pop in and out… it’s not overwhelming and from what I’ve experienced, there isn’t the same I’ve got more friends than you la de da!

Still doesn’t sound great! Tempt me some more, Olivia…

If I can’t convince you to join me, friend me, fan me or whatever, maybe this article can! My favourite bit from the article:-

Darren Rowse (Problogger): Why Plurk? “When 20 people invite me to join them on a site in a 24-hour period, I tend to take notice. I think it makes sense as a blogger to participate in those parts of the Web where people are gathering to have community and communicate. Plurk is one of those.”

and also, this:-

Rob Lloyd (Bloggeries): Why Plurk? “I use Plurk because I am an incredibly social creature who loves trying new things. I also absolutely love meeting new people for work and play.”

Jump out of the wrong side of the bed and join me on Plurk!

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WordPress 2.6 Release!

Matt Mullenweg, the man behind WordPress announced the release of WordPress 2.6 nicknamed “Tyner” after Jazz Pianist McCoy Tyner

I wasn’t expecting it to be released so soon, but as Matt mentions, the team not only got it out, but a whole month before the “deadline” so to speak.

Below I have embedded the demonstration video the WordPress team created, showcasing all the new features bundled into WordPress 2.6.

As I write this I am backing up and upgrading - so if you’ve beaten me to it, let me know what you think!

My Favourite Features

• Word count
• Image captions
• Bulk management of plugins.
• Revamped image control
• Drag-and-drop reordering of Galleries.
• Plugin update notification bubble.
• You can now have many thousands of pages or categories with no interface issues.
• Select a range of checkboxes with “shift-click.”
• Version 2.6 fixes approximately 194 bugs.

LTY Forums; Released & Live!

LTY Designs has been quiet lately, but it’s because I’ve been working on LTY Forums! Rosanna has, in the mean time been working on LTY Tutorials which is about 95% completed. :D

LTY Forums is something we’ve been trying to do for a long time, but haven’t really succeeded in getting it to work - in the sense that, we were using the wrong type of system and had three separate MBs. So this time, we went for something completely new; and it even looks similar to LTY Designs!

The forums are going to be much more multipurpose; we aim on targeting designers, yes. But also artists, photographers, writers and just about anyone else. We’re looking to expand it, likely having a bigger fashion and beauty board and what ever else you want.

It’s still a work in progress, but from now on we need everyone’s input so we can make it into the community we have envisioned.

So… check it out: Go to… LTY Forums!