A quick and easy way to get access to information and to find out when your favourite websites are updated is by subscribing to RSS feeds. I shall go through an example using Mozilla Firefox, which all sensible users of the Internet use… 

1. If a website has an RSS feed a small orange icon will be displayed at the end of the address bar (as with this website)

2. Some websites have more than one RSS feed. This website has several for different formats. The most common is RSS 2.0, so click on that one.

3. A box will come up as if you were saving an ordinary bookmark (Internet Explorer’s ‘Favorites’ are called ‘bookmarks’ in Firefox)

 4. Save the Live Bookmark in a sensible place. I have a separate folder in my ‘Bookmarks Toolbar Folder’ for RSS feeds. If you click on the little arrow next to the right a drop-down list of folders will present itself to you.

 5. Once it’s saved, go to the location where you saved it and marvel at your work! Your live bookmark will now be updated whenever there is new content!

Three of the best RSS Feeds on the Internet (in my opinion) are the ones found at the following sites:

• BBC News
• Slashdot
• Del.icio.us/popular

You can find a list of the 100 most subscribed-to RSS feeds here. 

(Hint:if you see an XML button, simply right-click on it and select ‘Copy Link Location’. In Firefox, go to Bookmarks/Manage Bookmarks on the toolbar, then to File/New Live Bookmark. Paste the link into the ‘Feed Location’ field and give it a title, and you’re off!)