RSS or Really Simple Syndication is becoming more popular all the time. In short, it allows you to see recent updates to a site without wading through the site - you just see the headlines and click to the specific story you're interested in. You've probably seen bright orange RSS buttons or icons like those below:

These icons all mean one thing - you can view the newest headlines from the sites using these news feeds. This guide was written for new users to Firefox and RSS, hoping to shed some light on this mystery which will definitely help you find the information you require much easier.

Step 1 - Install Sage

You can actually skip the whole Sage toolbar if you just want to try RSS feeds for now. Read below on using a "Live Bookmark".

Sage is an extension for Firefox that makes RSS feed support more intuitive. Head to the Install section and click the link labeled "click here to install". By default, Firefox will try to prevent this from happening. If it doesn't, click the Install Now button.

Click Edit Options at the right side and make sure you tell Firefox to Allow this site in the future. Close the allowed site box, then click the Install link on the page again. If Sage has been installed correctly, it should show up under Tools, Extensions. Note this is also where you'd uninstall it or other Firefox Extensions. Once Sage has been installed, you will need to close and re-open Firefox for it to function.

Step 2 - Enable and Use Sage

To show or hide the Sage sidebar press the ALT and S keys at the same time. Alternatively, choose View at the top, Sidebar, Sage. If your sidebar isn't showing up, make sure it was installed correctly by checking the Extensions section as mentioned above.

Using Sage is really easy. Visit your favorite sites that support RSS feeds. One example is Slashdot. If you can't find the RSS link or icons, that's OK. Just click the magnifying glass in the Sage sidebar, then choose the feed you want and click Add Feed, then Close.

Once a site is added to this list, you can view the headlines it has up by clicking it on the Sage sidebar. The headlines will be displayed in the lower pane. In the main browser window, it will show headlines with summaries of each story. Click the story headline or link on the sidebar to read that individual story from the source site. You'll notice that headlines will go from bold to normal once they've been read, letting you know which stories you've already browsed. Feeds can be organized by clicking Options on the right side of the Sage sidebar and choosing Manage Feed List. You can also configure scheduling options and if the headlines show in the browser window from Settings... in this Options dropdown. You can even create a custom Style Sheet (.css file) to configure the look of the toolbar.

Firefox's Native Solution: Live Bookmarks: Additionally, sites that have RSS feeds will often show a Live Bookmark option in the address bar near the top of your browser. Click on the icon to add a Live Bookmark, which then will give you the ability to click a tab (if the bookmarks toolbar is enabled - View, Toolbars, Bookmark toolbar) and see its feeds.

Step 3 - Other Uses for Feeds

Click Options again and choose Show Feed Search Bar. This gives you a search bar for news feeds using Feedster, which comes in very handy if you're looking up news on specific companies or hardware. This is especially handy if you are into stocks!

Some forums (including Tweak3D) offer feeds. This allows you to quickly view all new threads and messages without using the standard interface. It's hard to explain how this makes things faster, so you'll have to give it a try if you're interested. Sometimes you'll need to copy the link from the RSS icon (right click, choose Copy Link Location) and manually add it to your Sage extension (Right click one of the current feeds, choose New Bookmark, fill in fields and paste into Location).

The one remaining item that may not make sense to you is the Trackback option that is displayed at the bottom-right of the stories in the main browser window. Using Technorati, this option searches the web for other links to the story you were reading. Why is this useful? There are several reasons. For webmasters and bloggers, it can help you determine who is discussing your content. It helps you determine if the story is accurate and it also gives you additional discussion on a topic. Use the trackback feature to gather more information and like-news on a subject.

For more information on RSS, read Wikipedia's entry on the topic. For more information on Trackbacks, read this article at movabletype.org. Happy feeding!

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