Atom and RSS feeds: The best way to keep up with the blog!
In this post, I will try to briefly explain what Atom and RSS feeds are and why they are in my opinion the best way to keep up with your favourite blogs and news websites.
Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
RSS is a standardized file format that contains text contents of online websites, i.e. a file that a computer can read and contains contents of recent posts of online blogs or other websites. A user can subscribe to an RSS feed using a client program (like Feeder on android, or newsboat on the console) that regularly (or whenever the user chooses) checks online for the new version of the file, containing updates published on the website, and translates it into entries usually containing the article titles and part of its contents into human-readable entries that one can usually read directly inside their RSS reader. A lot of RSS readers (e.g. newsboat) offer ways for the user to easily open the original article in their browser or to view the entire article directly inside the reader (e.g. feeder).
Atom
Atom is a format that functions essentialy the same way as RSS but is more modern and modular, enabling the use of its entries outside of the context of an Atom feed reader. In the context of this article and a typical user they are the same thing.
How to subscribe to my (or any other) feed
Most blogs and news websites provide RSS and Atom feeds. I make those feeds available on the right hand side of my blog. You can subscribe to one of them by copying the link and pasting it to your feed reader. You can, for example, download Feeder from Google Play (or better yet, F-Droid), click on the three dots on the top right and then 'Add Feed'. Then paste the link you copied from my blog, then hit 'Search' and 'Add Feed'. Simple as that! Now you can go do the same thing on all of your favourite blogs and news sites and create a personalized feed that is not relying on an algorithm that prioritizes certain things over others. Keep in mind that a lot of websites offer multiple feeds for different article categories.