Keep up to date with RSS

IF you want to read the latest news items on This French Life when they are published, then you can in just a few simple steps.

The site provides an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed that means instead of visiting This French Life to see if the site has been updated, it can tell you that there is something new.

This feature is particularly useful for some of the airline deals that appear on the site, as booking periods are often only valid for a few days.

You need to set yourself up with a Newsreader that can display the RSS feed of the site and keep you in touch with the latest updates.

There are many on the internet and most are free to use, personally I use Bloglines, which is easy to sign-up to, free and can be accessed from work as well as home.

Then you need to add the This French Life RSS feed to your Newsreader.

You can do this by right clicking on the link below, you will also find it in the left hand column of every page of the site:

Subscribe to RSS feed

Then click on Copy Shortcut and go to your Newsreader and paste it into your service.

Then whenever the site is updated you will get a message to say there is something new and you can read the first paragraph to see if it is of interest to you.

Many news services offer this type of service now including the BBC and the Guardian.

If you have any questions about setting up a Newsreader and subscribing to the This French Life RSS feed just make a comment below, and I will get back to you.

Comments

[Anil Sinha]

HI Craig! How are you? Regarding RSS, I haven't a clue as to what you are talking about -- sounds interesting though --Really Simple Syndication -- when eventually I am able to get to it. I have downloaded and saved (not yet run) both Bloglines (as you suggest) and Awasu (as BBC site suggests). What next? I know I can click on one of these and it will start downloading -- but then I will panic??? I need a step by step instruction, please!! Many thanks -- and best wishes. Anil.

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Anil

OK. I will use the example of Bloglines as that is the one I am familiar with.

Once you have set-up your password and confirmed your account you will be taken to the opening page.

A click on My Feeds in the top left corner will take you through to a page that allows you to add the link that will draw in the new stories from thisfrenchlife.

That involves right clicking on the link I've highlighted in the article above, copying it and then placing it either in the box that has the button subscribe beside it, or click on Add in the top left hand corner and paste it in to the box in the middle of the screen, that again has subscribe next to it. Then hit subscribe.

The web page will refresh almost straight away and in the left column will be the words thisfrenchlife in bold and a number in brackets.

This is telling you that there is new content from the site and the number of most recent stories.

And that is it.

I see you mention that you have downloaded something from Bloglines, is this the Notifier? This is useful as it checks for you when sites you've picked have been updated and you will see a message pop up to say it has.

You then just click on the small letter B that sits at the bottom of your computer and it takes you straight to your Bloglines page with the new stories.

See how it goes and drop me a line if you have any more questions.

Regards

- Craig
Editor, thisfrenchlife