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That’s better

Spacepig, since I class myself as something of an idiot, this should be the perfect Idiot’s Guide to Idiot speak…

Call me a total technophobe if you want to (everyone else does) but I think I’ll just wait till Junior is here to do it for me.

Is there such a thing as the Idiots Guide to interpreting LZ talk?

You’re right, it’s very easy to sign up for a gmail email account (http://gmail.com) but of course, that’s yet another email to check daily so another option might be to use a desktop application.

I don’t use Google Reader to keep track of feeds, instead I use an open-source (free!) desktop application called FeedReader: http://www.feedreader.com/ . But of course, being tied to one machine doesn’t suit everyone, hence my suggestion for Google Reader.

The other option which I’ve not tried yet but sounds appealing is a new service called Blogtrottr (http://blogtrottr.com/). They say:

“Blogtrottr is a nifty little app designed to deliver updates from all of your favourite RSS feeds directly to your inbox, giving you the flexibility to stay updated whilst on the go.”

I’ve just signed up for this to the email I use daily but haven’t yet received a feed email because of course, we need Laughing Dog to post again. As soon as he posts, I’ll get an email with a link to click to go read.

Hmm, I’m not so keen on this option because I follow multiple feeds and I sure as shit ain’t typing them all in one at a time and then having to read a new email for every post of every feed! So it’s good for someone who follows a small handful of feeds (e.g. MFTM, BBC, NY Times).

So back to Google Reader. I would have written a quick tutorial but of course this is teh interwebs and many, many people have done just that already so here are a few good ones:

What is RSS?
http://rss.softwaregarden.com/aboutrss.html

How to use Google Reader:
http://www.andywibbels.com/flash/google_reader.htm
http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_5132_use-google-reader.html

Hope that’s enough to get you started – which option you choose kind of depends on how many feeds you want to follow and how many locations you want to follow them from. If you just use a single computer and plan on subscribing to quite a few feeds then go for a FeedReader (the best, imho); if you prefer the flexibility of being able to check feeds from anywhere, then Google Reader would be better.

This little missive might generate more questions than answers – feel free to hit me with ‘em!

If anyone wants a mini tutorial on how to subscribe, leave a comment and I’ll write some notes.