I did a search and could not find anything on this topic, so I thought I would write a little tip.

You might have noticed the orange XML logo down in the left corner. It is a feed that can be used to view the last posts in a feed reader. I try to follow what is being posted on a large number of websites. And without syndication it would be impossible. I am using RSSOwl to read feeds and you can find more about it on Wisnaes.com (http://www.wisnaes.com/2005/09/17/feed-me-some-news/) .

What is not so clear is that you can actually choose what forums to watch and it is quite easy. NB! This will only show you new threads as far as I know. Not the follow-up posts. But for me this is good enough. I just need to know about interesting new threads or threads where I feel I can contribute.

In your reader of choice you add this link:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/external.php?type=rss2&forumids=X

where X is the forum ID. If you want to know the forum ID, just go to your forum and check what number is displayed at the end of the address. The link to the Software forum is

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9

So the forum ID is 9 and the RSS link for this forum is then

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/external.php?type=rss2&forumids=9

Hope this is of interest for someone.

That's good stuff. Thanks, I've known about rss feeds, but couldn't figure of what the practical purpose was.

That's good stuff. Thanks, I've known about rss feeds, but couldn't figure of what the practical purpose was.

RSS feeds are quite cool. Ther are other uses for it as well.

You could include the feed into your own website if the site you are getting it from is allowing it (always check with them first).

But the newest thing is podcasting - either audio or video.

They attach a file to the feed and you can download it and play it on your mp3 player or computer. It is like a downloadable radio or tv program. You could also call it blogging with a soundrecorder or videocamera.

I found som nice podcasts about Photoshop and put the links on www.wisnaes.com under Podcasts in the sidebar. There are special programs for podcasts, but you can just use RSSOwl if you want. You get a link that you click and you either save it or just play it.

I use Ipodder (http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php) for my podcast subscriptions. Available podcasts are listed within the program. There are versions of Ipodder for windows, mac and linux.

Pierre

Pierre,

Yes, iPodder is a very good program for podcasts only. But it is not as easy to read other text based feeds on it. So I am so far using RSSOwl. It works ok, but will get a lot more podcast specific features in a later release. For the adventorus minds, there are patches that do it today.