RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is a way to easily distribute a list of headlines, update notices, and sometimes content to a wide number of people. It is used by computer programs that organize those headlines and notices for easy reading.
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E-mail notification of changes was an early solution to this problem. Unfortunately, when you receive e-mail notifications from multiple websites they are usually disorganized, can become overwhelming, and are often mistaken for spam.

RSS is a better way to be notified of new and changed content. Notifications of changes to multiple websites are handled easily, and the results are presented to you well organized and are more distinct than e-mail notification.
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RSS works by having the website author maintain a list of notifications on their website in a standard way. This list of notifications is called an RSS Feed. People who are interested in finding out the latest headlines or changes can check this list. Special computer programs called RSS aggregators automatically access the RSS feeds of websites you care about on your behalf and organize the results for you. (RSS feeds and aggregators are also sometimes called RSS Channels and RSS Readers.)

Producing an RSS feed is very simple and hundreds of thousands of websites now provide this feature, including eNasco, Weblogs, and major news organizations like the New York Times, and the BBC.
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RSS feeds provide very basic information for a notification. RSS feeds are made up of a list of items presented in order from newest to oldest. Each item usually consists of a simple title describing the item along with a more complete description and a link to a web page with the actual information being described. Sometimes this description is the full information you want to read (such as the content of a weblog post) and sometimes it is just a summary.

For example, the RSS information for headlines on a local news website could contain the following information:

The RSS information is placed into a single file on a website in a manner similar to normal web pages. However, the information is coded in the XML computer language for use by a program (the RSS aggregator) and not by a person like a normal web page.

Think of a RSS aggregator as just a web browser for RSS content. RSS aggregators automatically check a series of RSS feeds for new items on an ongoing basis, making it is possible to keep track of changes to multiple websites without needing to tediously read and reread each of the websites yourself. They detect the additions and present them all together to you in a compact and useful manner. If the title and description of an item are of interest, the link can be used to quickly bring the related web page up for reading.

There are many RSS aggregators available. Some are accessed through a browser, some are integrated into e-mail programs, and some run as a stand-alone application on your personal computer.
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It is becoming more and more common for websites to have RSS feeds. They usually indicate the existence of the feed on the home page or main news page with a link to RSS, or sometimes by displaying an orange button with the letters XML or RSS. RSS feeds are also often found via a Syndicate This link. Text RSS links sometimes (there are lots of variations) point to a web page explaining the nature of the RSS feeds provided and how to find them. The buttons are often linked directly to the RSS feed file itself.

Once you know the URL of an RSS feed, you can provide that address to an RSS aggregator program and have the aggregator monitor the feed for you. Many RSS aggregators come pre-configured with a list to choose from of RSS feed URLs for popular news websites.
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In addition to notifying you about news headlines and changes to websites, RSS feeds can be used for many other purposes. There does not even have to be a web page associated with the items listed -- sometimes all the information you need may be in the titles and descriptions themselves.

Some commonly mentioned uses are:

• Notification of the arrival of new products in a store
• Listing of newsletter issues, including e-mail newsletters
• Weather and other alerts of changing conditions
• Notification of additions of new items to a database or new members to a group

One RSS aggregator is all that you need to read all of the RSS feeds, be they headlines, alerts, changes, or other notifications. RSS Feeds are shaping up to be a very popular and useful way to communicate.
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