1. Subscribing to RSS feeds using Mozilla Firefox.

Mozilla Firefox is an excellent web browser which is available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. To download a suitable browser for your chosen platform, go to the Mozilla web site.

Firefox comes with a built-in RSS reader, which is suitable for most. RSS comes in many flavours, including RSS 0.9, RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, and Atom. Mozilla Firefox supports them all. Alternatively, there are many RSS browser extensions available to download from the Mozilla web site if required. Firefox uses a technology called 'Live Bookmarks' that lets you view RSS news and blog headlines in the bookmarks toolbar or bookmarks menu. This enables you to see the latest headlines from any RSS enabled site and to go to the article in question simply by clicking on the headline.

There are two methods for creating a Live Bookmark.

Method 1
  • Method 1 is the easiest method to use. It can be used if you see the icon
    RSS icon in firefox
    at the right end of the Location textbox or in the bottom right corner of the browser.
  • Clicking on the icon will reveal the names of the different feeds available on that page.
    List of available feeds
    Figure 1. List of available feeds
  • Selecting an RSS feed will bring up the Add Bookmark dialog.

    Add Bookmarks dialog box
    Figure 2. Add bookmark dialog box
  • Select Add and a bookmark to the newsfeed will be included in your bookmarks.
Method 2
  • Method 2 can be used if you see
    RSS orange icon
    or
    RSS blue icon
    on a web page.
  • Right click on the icon and select Copy Link Location. This will copy the URL of the link to the newsfeed to the clipboard.
  • From the Bookmarks menu, select Manage Bookmarks.
  • A new window entitled Bookmarks Manager will appear.
  • From its File menu, select New Live Bookmark.
  • A new window entitled Properties for New Live Bookmark will appear.
  • In the Name textbox, replace the text New Live Bookmark by some appropriate text indicating the topic of the newsfeed.
  • Click in the textbox and press Ctrl/V so that the URL is pasted into the textbox.
  • The Description can be left empty.
  • Select OK and a bookmark to the newsfeed will be included in your bookmarks.
  • Close the Bookmarks Manager window.
Many people find it especially convenient to save Live Bookmarks in their Bookmarks Toolbar folder found inside the bookmarks listing.

RSS icon on browser toolbar
Figure 3. RSS feed on browser toolbar

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