What are those little blue and orange boxes ( 
) on every page of FMQB.com?
The blue and orange boxes mean that FMQB's Breaking and Music News is available for syndication as an RSS Feed. XML is a computer language that makes the process of publishing news quick and easy and is simply one way to make content available. FMQB News is actually available in two different formats: XML (which is most common) and Javascript. The feed locations for each of those is as follows:
To add only FMQB's Music News, use the following feed:
Also, if you wish to view the feeds with text formatting and graphics, please use the following links:
FMQB Podcasts - Now listed in iTunes!
To add FMQB's Podcasts (called QB-Casts), use these feeds:
What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." It's a format that web sites and weblogs (blogs) use to syndicate content via news aggregation tools and services. Syndication benefits users -- instead of visiting multiple web sites to see what's new, they can simply scan headlines or brief article summaries and click to read the full text. "Really Simple" refers to how easy it is for publishers to make their content available to readers in this format.
Because RSS is relatively new on the Internet, not all sites syndicate their content. However, many notable sites already do offer RSS, and every day the RSS offering grows. For example, search engines such as Yahoo.com (http://news.yahoo.com/rss/) and news sites such as the AP and Reuters use RSS to syndicate news headlines and abstracts. Other sites use RSS to alert customers of new products or upcoming events.
How do people use RSS feeds?
News aggregators (or news readers) are the most common use of RSS feeds, and there are several types. Web aggregators (sometimes called portals) make this view available in a web page; My Yahoo is a well-known example of this. Aggregators have also been integrated into e-mail clients and onto users' desktops, or released as standalone, dedicated software. Aggregators can offer a variety of special features, including combining several related feeds into a single view, hiding items that the viewer has already seen, and categorizing feeds and items.
Another way many people use RSS feeds is by incorporating content into blogs. Blogs are web pages comprised of usually short, frequently updated items and web links. Blogging as a publishing tool is used for many purposes: traditional journalism, personal journals, group discussions around a topic, and many combinations in-between.
Other uses of RSS feeds include site tracking by search engines and other software; because the feed is machine-readable, the search software doesn't have to figure out which parts of the site are important and which parts are just the navigation and presentation. It is possible to allow people to republish your feeds on their Web sites, giving them the ability to represent content as they require.
How can people syndicate FMQB Breaking and Music News?
The following is a list of RSS Aggregators and other RSS Clients as recommended by the MNOT.net RSS Tutorial page(found here). This is only a partial list, as there are many options available.
- Headline Viewer - The original desktop aggregator. For most versions of Windows.
- SharpReader - Windows-based desktop aggregator; many features.
- NetNewsWire - A newer, standalone desktop aggregator for MacOS X.
- Radio UserLand - Hybrid desktop/Web aggregator and weblogging tool. Windows and Macintosh (7.5.5+ and OSX).
- Meerkat - A Web-based aggregator by O'Reilly.
- News is Free - Another Web-based aggregator which also does some third-party scraping.
- Apache JetSpeed - An Enterprise-class Java Portal that supports RSS.
- Daypop - A search engine for RSS-based news.
Additional options can be found at CNET.com (found here) or at Download.com.
Custom Aggregators can also be written in virtually any server-side language you may be familiar with (including ASP and PHP) and can be designed to fit your needs.
Finally, if you use Mozilla Firefox as your browser, you can add FMQB's news feed as a Live Bookmark. This wil allow you to view the headlines of each story, and click on a particular headline to read the full text. To add FMQB as a Live Bookmark, follow these instructions:
