(Revised May 2008)

An RSS feed lists articles on a website, usually including a short summary of each listed article plus a link to the full article. Using an RSS reader for RSS feeds provides an easy way to scan the information on a website, and the latest versions of Safari for Leopard and Tiger include a built-in RSS reader.

RSS feeds can save you time while keeping you up-to-date on the latest news in almost any field of interest. And accessing RSS feeds with Mac OS X (Leopard or Tiger) is easy with Safari. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to get started with RSS feeds using Apple's Safari web browser.

Finding RSS Feeds

Safari makes it easy for you to find RSS feeds and add the ones you want to your bookmarks list. If you visit a website that has an RSS feed, you'll see the letters RSS in blue on the right end of the URL text box at the top of the Safari window. To view the RSS feed, click the blue RSS button.

Viewing RSS Feeds

When you open an RSS feed page, you'll see a column on the right-hand side of the RSS window with several options for viewing RSS articles. The second option is a slider that lets you adjust the length of the article summary that is displayed. If you move the slider under "Article Length" all the way to the left, you'll see only the titles of articles. To see part of the summary, gradually move the slider to the right.




If you look further down the column on the right, you'll see the heading "Recent Articles." You can now select to view articles only from certain dates: All, Today, Yesterday, Last Seven Days, This Month, Last Month.

Sorting RSS Articles

You can sort articles in several ways. The options listed under "Sort By" in the right-hand column include:

• Date - Articles will be sorted by date and time with the most recent article listed first.
• Title - Articles will be sorted according to the first word of the title.
• New - Articles will be listed with articles not yet viewed listed first.

Searching RSS Articles

In addition to viewing and sorting options, Safari has special search options for RSS feeds. To search RSS articles, type your search term in the box under "Search Articles" at the top of the right-hand column. Safari will instantly display articles that match your search term in the main section of the window.

Using Safari is only one way to view RSS feeds. There are also several excellent RSS readers available and you can read a review of my favorite, Vienna on my Software Reviews blog.

Learn more about using RSS feeds with Safari with our Easy Guide to Safari Browser and our Introduction to Leopard - Book 2.

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