HELP!

It seems like the most recent discussions are on the right side; and everything else seems to be broken up by category.  I don't know if there is a way to edit the order yet, but let me tell you what I do for every forum I am a member of.

I use the RSS feed as a live bookmark in Firefox.  This gives me the 30 most recent (but I usually only look at the top 10) discussions that have been posted to, and I just directly jump to the discussion with a click.

Here is a screenshot..

OK, true confession time.

Thank you, Jeremiah, for your response, but can you help more?  What does all this mean? 

"I use the RSS feed as a live bookmark in Firefox.  This gives me the 30 most recent (but I usually only look at the top 10) discussions that have been posted to, and I just directly jump to the discussion with a click"

I don't think I have Firefox and don't know what RSS feed is.  I am trying to not put more junk and commercials on my computer, so I am trying to be careful about downloaded software.  BTW, I don't have an ipod, a BlackBerry, or any cool video game systems either (though I do text message on my cell phone and use the bluetooth headset).  Yes, it's true!  I am technologically challenged!

Thanks for your help.

Mary

My first question to explain it all - what browser do you use now?  And if you can look, what version (it'll be something like 6 or 5.2 or 7 or something).

I'll get to explaining it all, but I need to know your current tools first.

Hi Mary,

 Fire fox is a browser, just like internet explorer, or Netscape(discontinued) or Safari (for MAC). Firefox is made by Mozzilla just like Internet Explorer(ie) by Microsoft. I personally think Firefox is a better browser.

To Download FireFox - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox

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RSS: Is an acronym for "Rich Site Summary" or "Really Simple Syndication" - I have seen both descriptions which is the official one I don't know.

   This Orange button is a standard symbolic representation of RSS feed.

How can you use it in the sense that Jeremiah was describing:  What he had mentioned is what you call "Subscribing" to a feed. Meaning when you subscribe you attach the live "feed" from what ever site you subscribe attached to your browser so that you get live updates.  Usually Forums, Blogs all have feeds so that you if you like to keep a track of these discussions you can subscribe and watch them all from your browser rather than going to the different sites every time. FireFox has a better way of interfacing than internet explorer.

Feeds can be used in a lot of different ways. Pod Cast is also a type of feed (audio). I am only giving you a very watered down version of what feed is I hope this help as an introduction

If you like to read more here are some links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format) http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/intro/

-------------------------------------------
Henry Joshua
CEO & Founder
.DotSign
www.dot-sign.com
"Gateway To Your Web Identity"
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A few clarifications... for the geekier set...

Really Simple Syndication is the standard term now, especially with the prevalence of version 2.0.

A podcast is not just audio, it can be video as well.

And yes... would second to everyone... Mozilla Firefox, in my humble opinion, is a better browser due to all the stuff you can add onto it but IE 7 is a major improvement and security and features such as RSS support on the Windows platform. 

Corporate IT people, though, many times will eschew Firefox because it is "dumb" - it doesn't have all the central access controls that IE does because it's built in, and in many corporate environments, Firefox is not permitted.

Jeremiah,

Yup it's true and I was aware that that pod casting is not just audio but video as well... I was giving a watered down basic info so that some one who doesn't have a geek back ground can related and understand. :o) Its all about reaching and helping the end user right !

Thanks for the clarification about the acronym. I get confused because I still hear people referring RSS to both the descriptions even though the W3C's RDF specification define it as "Really simple syndication" and also some thing that I recently learnt (you probably know about it already but just in case). RSS is to be "the" syndication standard as opposed to atom, even though atom has a strong back up from google.

Hoping to run in to you some time :) .I believe there is always room for learning and helping people by providing information !

-------------------------------------------
Henry Joshua
CEO & Founder
.DotSign
www.dot-sign.com
"Gateway To Your Web Identity"
-------------------------------------------

OK, here I am back in the old days at IE v7.  I will jump in and download the new Firefox browser.  If you are both recommending it, I am confident that it will be helpful.

Change is great!!!! 

(Another question from the technically (Internet-ly?) challenged here...)

1. So if I download Firefox, I would just use that in all the ways that I now use Internet Explorer? Will it do anything "funky" (don't you just love that technical jargon?) to my computer?

2. I now get the daily digest of all the postings to MCC. The information comes right to my Inbox. If I were to subscribe to the RSS feed, I would have to open up Firefox/Internet Explorer and it would all be right there? Or would I get some sort of notification? How does this RSS thing work?

And, Mary, I'm so glad you confessed! I think I'm not only worse than you, but I mostly think I'm the only one who's like this, so I don't say anything. Maybe people like Jeremiah and Henry will actually pull us into the 21st Century.

(Hopefully) Answers...

1) Yes you would.  Nothing funky.  Just more security and customization.

2) As in the attached screenshot, it automatically updates with the recently active threads in chronological order.  Personally, I hate email clutter (I'm an apsiring Inbox Zero guy) so instead of email ruling me, I have control on when I want to look at MCC right up in the bookmark bar - and I don't have to sift through the site.  The updates are done automatically by the MCC site, so you won't have to worry about that.

Getting automatic notifications that pop up (I got annoyed, so I don't do it) is RSS Kung-Fu lesson #2. :-)