In the beginning there was the web, and it was good. We fired up our web browsers, entered the site address and navigated ourselves to these wonderful new pages of information and delight. But slowly things began to change. We found that keeping up to date with our growing number of favourite sites was becoming more of a chore than a pleasure. We would spend hours browsing our essential pages and still not be done by lunch, and this was not A Good Thing. Then, just at the point where most of us were about to give it all up in a desperate bid to escape information overload, along came a saviour, a white knight bearing the promise of the age. The RSS standard was born.

RSS, also known as Really Simple Syndication, is an exciting new technology which lets you collate and access a constantly updating stream of material in a simple and ingenious way. Instead of having to start up a web browser and laboriously navigate to the Times Online site, you install a small program which collects the headlines and downloads them to your computer, rather like email messages. Every time a new story is posted on the site, its headline appears in your RSS reader and you can then decide whether you want to click on the headline and read the whole story or skim to the next piece of news.

Each list of headlines is called a feed, and you can sign up to many different feeds and keep them all stored in a single place for instant access. Being able to skim read a large number of web site headlines like this can cut down the time it takes to access your favourite sites considerably. It’s like having a very efficient butler who cuts out the headlines of your favourite newspaper and serves them to you on a tray, but without the hassle of having to pay holiday benefits.

To use RSS you will need to download and install an RSS reader program or sign up to an online service. There are many types available online and most of them are free of charge. Here is a selection of the most useful and popular ones:

FeedReader (www.feedreader.com) – a free Windows program which is simple to use and install.

Sauce Reader (www.synop.com/Products/SauceReader) – a free Windows program with a familiar MS Office-style interface.

Fastbuzz (www.fastbuzz.com/main.jsp) – a free online service which collects feeds for you and then delivers them via email.

AmphetaDesk (www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/screenshots.html) – a free Windows and Apple Mac program with unusual scrolling page interface.

Friday (members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3szvh/friday) – a free RSS reader for Java-equipped mobile phones and PDAs.

Bloglines (bloglines.com) – a free online service offering a huge library of ready to use feeds, plus tools to help you manage them.

NetNewsWire Lite for Mac (ranchero.com/netnewswire) – a free version of the popular Apple Mac RSS reader.

To access the Times Online news feeds, you need to download and install your RSS reader of choice, then go to www.timesonline.co.uk/rss and follow the instructions to set up your service. From then on, all you have to do is check your reader every so often to see if the new headlines have arrived for you to browse or access. The initial feeds cover Sport, Business and the World and UK news, and more will appear as time goes by.

Explore Tech & Web

• Personal Tech

• The Web

• Gadgets & Gaming