So I have been dutifully researching RSS feeds and trying to figure out exactly what they are and what I'm supposed to do with them. At the moment, I find myself in the middle of a love-hate relationship.
I understand the great idea of simply going one place to see what has been updated on all the blogs and sites you frequent on a daily/weekly basis. This can save precious time, but I have a couple complaints.
1) I have to go to a brand new website (my Google Reader) now to see blog updates. So essentially, while I have eliminated typing in maybe 5 or 6 URLs, I still have to type in 1 new one. (Although, admittedly, if I'm already signed into iGoogle, which I inevitably am, I only have to push a button, so this complaint may fade away eventually.)
2) I don't get to see each website's unique setup and templates. I spent a good amount of time (ok, 10 minutes) setting up my blog so it would have a little of my personality incorporated into it. When I click on a feed in Google Reader, I simply see the posts, not the website they were posted on, which I think is kind of disappointing.
But, I dutifully added 10 blogs to my Google Reader and now have successfully set up my RSS feed reader. Hooray! Only time will tell how much I actually use it.
Not to make this blog horrendously long, but one more thing. As I was working my way through Thing #4, I noticed that I could not open some blogs (most notably the blogspot.com ones) in IE, and when I read my email I was told to use Firefox. Not that there's anything wrong with Firefox, but I like good old Internet Explorer. And when I'm at home with the updated IE (the one with tabs and all that good stuff that the work computers haven't seemed to be updated with yet) I had no troubles at all loading the sites. So my theory is, let's just update IE at work, and then I won't have to learn about Firefox and RSS feeds at the same time, which made for a somewhat confusing morning. :-) Or, we can take Nietzsche's stance, and that which did not kill me made me stronger. Or at least a better 2.0-er.
I'm so excited to be on someone's blog roll - I suppose that means I actually have to update my blog now, huh?
ReplyDeleteI totally understand your frustration with the old IE at work. I used to prefer Firefox until I started using the updated IE at home - now it's my browser of choice.
October 5, 2007 12:14 PM
Yay! I'm on your blog roll, too! I agree with Mandy, I do feel a little pressured now....
ReplyDeleteOctober 5, 2007 2:02 PM
I understand all of your comments and agree. What I like best about RSS feeds is the ability to go to one single place and see quickly what's been updated. From there, you can - with one click - go to the "native" site to see their page layout, etc. The ease of seeing what's updated is what got me hooked.
ReplyDeleteOctober 7, 2007 2:45 PM