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So what is RSS?
RSS is known as Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary but whatever you call it, it's
designed to do one thing ... make your life easier!
Using RSS allows you to see when sites all over the internet have added new content. You can
then get the latest headlines from all the sites you subscribe to in one place saving you endless
time visiting every site to check if they've updated or not.
Basically RSS takes the hassle out of staying up to date by bringing the latest information direct to you.
What do I need to use RSS feeds?
All you actually need is a piece of software called a news reader (sometimes known as a news aggregator or feed reader). This software is available free from various sites on the web or there are some you can access direct through your browser. If you're using Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 2.0 these come with feed readers already built in. Also Outlook 2007 has an RSS reader built in and allows you to receive feeds just like e-mails, it even puts them in a separate folder for you!
Once you've decided on your news reader all you have to do is choose the content you wish to receive by subscribing to the relevant RSS feeds.
For example if you're looking to receive the latest Storm news or Storm results you just add the relevant feed above and the content will come direct to you. You can add as many feeds from as many websites as you like and all the latest content will come direct to you so you can see how much of a time saver it could be if you add all the sites you visit regularly.
How do I know if a site has an RSS feed?
Most sites are using the little orange button to advertise their feeds so just look out for this symbol. 
How do I subscribe?
You can subscribe to the feed in various ways. Some are dependant on which news reader you are using but with certain software you can drag the orange button into your reader. Alternatively just click "add a new feed" in your reader and copy and paste the URL of the feed. You can also right click the mouse over the feed, then click "copy shortcut" or "copy link location" and paste this into your reader.
For instance if you wanted to add the Storm News feed into your reader you would need to make sure you added this URL:
http://www.stormnetballclub.com/storm.xml
For our results service just add this URL:
http://www.stormnetballclub.com/results.xml
or to find out when we've added new photos add this URL:
http://www.stormnetballclub.com/photos.xml
Once you've done that you're finished, just sit back and wait for the stories to come to you!
Is it safe?
RSS feeds are better than subscribing to a site's newsletter because the feed is totally anonymous and you don't have to give out your e-mail address. Also feeds update immediately so you're guaranteed the latest content rather than waiting for a newletter to arrive weekly or monthly.
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