简体中文
EnglishWhat Is About Feeds?
Updated
About Feeds (aboutfeeds.com) is a short getting-started guide to web feeds, also called RSS feeds. It explains what a feed is, why subscribing is useful, and how to pick a newsreader app and subscribe to a site's feed. It is a plain-language explainer for people who are new to RSS, not a feed reader or a directory of feeds itself.
What the site covers
The guide is organized around four questions:
- What is a feed? A feed is the latest content from a site, packaged in a form a newsreader app can read. The app checks the feed automatically every few hours. Most sites with feeds are news sites and blogs, and they usually link to them with an "RSS" label or an orange feed icon near the bottom of the page.
- How do I get a newsreader app? You need a newsreader to subscribe. The site describes the experience as similar to an email inbox or a social newsfeed, and lists four apps in alphabetical order.
- How do I subscribe? Copy the feed URL from the site, then paste it into a "Subscribe," "Add Web Feed," or "+" function in your newsreader.
- What next? Browse for more sites to read.
Why subscribe to feeds
The site makes a few practical arguments for feeds:
- Nothing is filtered out for you. Unlike Facebook, no algorithm drops content from your feed unless the author pays.
- It is spam-proof. Only the content you subscribed to arrives.
- It scales. One subscription may not save much time, but at 10 or 20 the newsreader becomes your regular place for news.
- It is easy to leave. If you have had enough, you just unsubscribe.
Newsreader apps the guide lists
| App | Cost and limits stated on the site | Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Feedly | Free up to 100 subscriptions | Web, Android, iOS |
| Inoreader | Free up to 150 subscriptions | Web, Android, iOS |
| NetNewsWire | Free | iOS, Mac |
| The Old Reader | Free/ad-supported up to 100 subscriptions | Web and apps for many platforms |
The guide notes that the choice matters little because newsreaders make it fairly easy to export your subscription list and move to another app later. So pick one whose look you like, then sign up or download it.
How to subscribe, step by step
- Find the feed link. Go to the site you want to follow and look for the RSS link or feed icon.
- Copy the feed URL. On desktop, right-click the link and choose "Copy Link Address" or similar. On mobile, tap and hold the link until a menu appears, then choose "Copy link."
- Paste it into your newsreader. Open the app and look for a function named something like "Subscribe," "Add Web Feed," or a "+" icon, then paste the URL.
- Verify. The latest content from that site should now appear in your newsreader.
A common snag is copying the site's normal page address instead of the feed link itself; the newsreader needs the feed URL, which is why the guide starts by pointing you to the RSS link or icon.
Who made it
The site includes a "Who made this site?" section, so authorship details are available on the page itself if you want to check who is behind the guide.
When this site is useful — and when it isn't
About Feeds is a good starting point if you have never used RSS and want a five-minute explanation plus a first subscription. It is not a place to search for feeds by topic, and it does not host a reader. If you already know how feeds work and want to discover new sites to follow, you will need to look elsewhere; the guide's own "What next?" step is simply to browse for more to read.