aren't widgets the 'easy' button for rss? I take your general marketing point though.
Adam Ostrow
· 1 year ago
Widgets are a good mainstream implementation of RSS. I'm talking more about actual news reading though - people who visit 20 different news site versus consuming them in a reader.
reddknight
· 1 year ago
I see two (at least) factors involved: 1)As you imply, some people take it for granted and assume everyone knows everything online, uses it, and *should* want to sit for hours in front of a computer everyday.
2)People want to make these things seem like deep technologies so they can maintain their aura of l33tness and speak and blog on their expertise. There is nothing deep about RSS and many other current web "technologies".
Serge
· 1 year ago
Easy button targets a certain group of people , wink wink.
I built this Rss reader myfeeds.net, well how can i compete with google or microsoft :))
I'm curious, has anyone written a feed reader that reads out loud to blind people?
IdeaTagging
· 1 year ago
I watched a great short video the other day explaining RSS in plain English and pictures - by the guys over at CommonCraft. The "What is RSS?" link should link to that.
modemlooper
· 1 year ago
its the same reason people buy newspapers, HABIT.
Mike
· 1 year ago
I need someone to help me with something here. I couldn't help but notice the article point out that they expect a start-up to go after this feature. But I can't help but notice that just about every RSS feed (especially the ones generated by Yahoo, Google, MSN) are only permitted for non-commercial use. How do all of these new sites that aggregate, mashup, or utilize feeds plan to make money then?
We've had the "Subscribe" button around since early 2006. It lets you easily add a feed to absolutely any feed reader, and consolidates the sometimes ridiculous use of chicklets.
Pete was at just about every party I attended in SF this week, and I was going to suggest our Subscribe button in lieu of the current stockpile of chicklets on Mashable, but it was impossible to catch him in a moment without the company of two or more lusting, beautiful girls. ;)
Chip
· 1 year ago
Word! Thank you! Yes, I'd like an Easy Button with that, please.
handheld
· 1 year ago
Seconded. It seems to me that feeds aren't really a natural part of the web browsing experience. Clicking feed links tends to cause scary context switches or launch external programs. Feeds are also 'push' oriented, as opposed to the proactive 'pull' of clicking links. As such they seem doomed to remain a power users tool.
After contemplating this problem for a while, I decided that the solution was an aggregator that was already aware of a number of popular feeds. Of course, once you've got that nailed down, its easy to add in non-feed based information like email, instant messaging, or pretty much any fancy API.
I've just opened up my solution for preview at Inflo.us. You're all invited.
Gh.x
· 1 year ago
This would be absolutely useless for a big part the web. There's a RSS button in my URL bar. Can't you use it?
Ubu Walker
· 1 year ago
I taught my fiancee how to use RSS feeds by showing her the pageflakes and netvibes websites. They are easy to use and are pretty self explanatory.
Gareth
· 1 year ago
The BBC do a good version of explaining what RSS is and how to use it easily. Most people don't spend hours a day on the web yet just reading news. When they do it will catch on.
Hey Adam- loved your article. We're a startup working on this exact problem. We like to think of it as "RSS for the masses". Seriously, how can RSS ever take off if it is driven by the marketeers over at the RSS Advisory Board (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_Advisory_Board)?
Time to put "RSS" to bed and make something actually understandable at first glance by your dad.
We're called Yotify and I'd be happy to give you sneak preview.
All Comments
1)As you imply, some people take it for granted and assume everyone knows everything online, uses it, and *should* want to sit for hours in front of a computer everyday.
2)People want to make these things seem like deep technologies so they can maintain their aura of l33tness and speak and blog on their expertise. There is nothing deep about RSS and many other current web "technologies".
I built this Rss reader myfeeds.net, well how can i compete with google or microsoft :))
I'm curious, has anyone written a feed reader that reads out loud to blind people?
We've had the "Subscribe" button around since early 2006. It lets you easily add a feed to absolutely any feed reader, and consolidates the sometimes ridiculous use of chicklets.
Kristen has covered Add to Any a couple times.
Pete was at just about every party I attended in SF this week, and I was going to suggest our Subscribe button in lieu of the current stockpile of chicklets on Mashable, but it was impossible to catch him in a moment without the company of two or more lusting, beautiful girls. ;)
After contemplating this problem for a while, I decided that the solution was an aggregator that was already aware of a number of popular feeds. Of course, once you've got that nailed down, its easy to add in non-feed based information like email, instant messaging, or pretty much any fancy API.
I've just opened up my solution for preview at Inflo.us. You're all invited.
I had read this in my RSS reader and remembered and though this would be a great video to send to your dad Adam
http://dotsub.com/films/inplainenglish/
Time to put "RSS" to bed and make something actually understandable at first glance by your dad.
We're called Yotify and I'd be happy to give you sneak preview.