Once you've chosen an aggregator (like Google Reader), there are generally two ways to subscribe to a news feed.
If you are using an updated version of Internet Explorer or Firefox most of the time the browser will recognize if a site has a RSS feed. For example, if you went to the home page for Environmental Health Perspectives you would see something like this:
In order to subscribe to the RSS feed from Environmental Health Perspectives, just click on the RSS icon at the end of the URL box. This icon will allow you to choose which feed from Environmental Health Perspectives you would like to subscribe to.
You'll then be asked how you'd like to subscribe to this feed. For example, if you have set up a Google Reader account, you may choose that from the list. If you do not see your aggregator on the list, you will have to find it by selecting “Choose Application…”
If you have Google Reader you will be asked whether you would like to add the feed to your Google Homepage or to Google Reader. Adding it to Reader gives you the full functionality of that program.
Another way to subscribe to feeds is to have the website generate an xml page that you can paste into your reader. For example, say you wanted to subscribe to the NIEHS newsfeed. First, find the RSS icon on the page.
But when you click on this icon you get a page of XML code, like this:
While this page may look strange to you, your RSS aggregator will translate it into a format that is easy to read. All you have to do is copy the web address of this page and paste it into the section of your aggregator that allows you to add feeds.
In the next step, we'll add a Pubmed search.
(Click here to go back to the beginning of the RSS Starter Kit.)
