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A steadfastly tenacious mommy embattled for the hearts of her children...
June 19, 2006
RSS instructions for those using homeschoolblogger and Internet Explorer
The first time I ever heard about RSS was on the Somerschool blog. I had no idea what it was, but after reading a few posts/comments about it, I knew it was something I wanted to invest the time into learning.
RSS stands for “Real Simple Syndication”, which is just too technical sounding to me. Here’s my definition: “A place for everything, and everything in its place”. RSS allows you to do that with the blogs you want to read! (for a more formal/technical explanation click here)
Thanks to a wonderfully patient blogger Dana and her guidance, I’ve got the basics figured out, and wanted to pass along her instructions along with some of the things I learned as I streamlined my blog reading!
The instructions are for those using homeschoolblogger and internet explorer, but they should work as a guide for anyone.
Turning yourself on so others can subscribe to your blog:
1.The instructions assume you HAVE a homeschoolblogger account set up. If you don’t yet, go to www.homeschoolblogger.com, click “SIGN UP NOW” and follow the instruction.
2. Go to www.homeschoolblogger.com and sign in (if necessary).
3. Click on “Site feed (RSS)”
4. Where it says “Publish site feed” change that to “Yes”. I am not sure what effect changing the “number of entries” setting would have. I assume the “Publish with HTML” would allow others to see HTML on their “My feed” (we’ll get to what that is in a minute). I had a blog post yesterday that included actual HTLM on the blog itself, but that didn’t show up at bloglines.com, so I’m assuming the person who’s blog it was has this set to “plain text”.
Now that you're turned on, lets set up your own account so you can subscribe to other people’s blogs:
1. Go to http://www.bloglines.com/register/
2. Enter your email address, pick a password, then click “register”
3. You will go through the process (it’s rather straightforward) and get a message that you are being sent a confirmation email.
4. Go get your email and click on the link that confirms your account.
5. This will take you to a page that says something like “Your account is confirmed”.
Now, you’re set up. Next, we’ll set up your “sub with bloglines” button, which is how you will add other people’s blogs to your newly created account so you can read them!
1. Go to http://www.bloglines.com
2. Sign in (if you aren’t already)
3. Near the top left of the screen, you will see “My Feeds”. Click on that.
4. You will see a “bloglines” account, which is actually your first “blog subscription”. As you add other people’s blogs, they will form a list right in that area, so this is where you’ll actually see the blogs you read. The bloglines account blog and is good to keep. They don't have too much info, but some of it is important.
5. Below this, you will see a section called “EXTRAS”. Under that is a link that says “easy subscribe bookmarklet”. Click on that.
6. On the next page it opens, you will see “Internet Explorer Users” at the top. What you are going to do is put a button on your toolbar that you can use to subscribe to blogs, and to get this button, you need to right click on the blue “SUB WITH BLOGLINES” icon and select “Add to Favorites”. If you see a warning dialogue box, click ok.
7. Next you need to go into your “favorites” by clicking “favorites” at the VERY TOP of your window, and select “organize favorites”.
8. Once that opens up, you need to find the link that says “Sub with bloglines”. Click on it once to highlight it, then click on “Move to folder”. Find the folder named “LINKS”. Click on the LINKS folder, then click “ok”.
9. This will put the button on your toolbar. You may need to look for it, depending on how much stuff you have on your toolbar already it may be “hiding” behind something else. You should be able to see where it says “Links” and it will have a line and some vertical dots next to it. If you click and drag that left or right, your “SUB WITH BLOGLINES” button should come out of hiding.
Okay. Now you have the ability to subscribe to a blog. Lets do it!
1. Pick a blog....any blog! Actually, you’re going to need to pick one that has an RSS feed active on it, (remember when you changed your blog setting: “Publish site feed” to “Yes”? That’s what I’m talking about here). If someone else has their “Publish site feed” set to “no” you can’t add them to your list. So, I’m going to have you add Dana’s blog. Go to: http://gottsegnet.blogspot.com
2. Once you are at the blog, click on your button you added to your toolbar in the last step that says “Sub with Bloglines”
3. You may need to log into your account again.
4. At the top it should say “Available feeds”. I have looked down the list and found the one that has a .rss in the website and clicked the box next to that one (I don’t know if clicking one of the other boxes would work...it might, I just haven’t tried that). Then scroll down to the very bottom and click “Subscribe”. Voila! That blog is now on your list!
(NOTE: If a person doesn’t have RSS turned on in their blog, when you click on your “sub with bloglines” button you get a message that says “No feeds were found. Please verify that the website publishes an RSS feed”. This is not a user error on your part...it means the person who’s blog it is either doesn’t want others to subscribe, doesn’t know the option exists, or doesn’t know how to turn it on).
5. If this doesn’t work, there are a few other options. Some blogs have a button in their sidebar that says “RSS FEED” or something like that. I have this on my blog, so you can practice by adding me.
6. Go to my blog (if you’re reading these instructions, you’re probably already here) www.homeschoolblogger.com/a4givensinner
7. Scroll down and on the right side of my blog you will eventually see a blue-ish colored button that says “B-Bloglines”. Click on this.
8. You will recognize this page, it is the same page that appears in step #4. Just scroll to the bottom and click “subscribe”. Voila! NOTE: The button will NOT look the same as mine on everyone’s blog. There are different styles and colors etc. but now you have an idea of what you’re looking for.
9. If the blog doesn’t publish an RSS feed you can be like a real pro and bug them about it and then patiently forward a link to this post to them when they ask you what on earth you are talking about! ...or just go visit their blog the old-fashioned way!
Now you know how to subscribe to a blog. How do you read them??
1. Go back to http://bloglines.com
2. Sign in if need
3. Click on “My feeds” in the top left corner.
4. You should see three blogs listed at this point: Bloglines, Dana’s blog, and my blog.
5. Click on which one you want to read!
Now, since I was all “caught up” on my blog reading when I added to my list, I clicked on each blog, then clicked on “Mark all read”. This “wiped the slate clean” for me. This morning, I discovered that as new entries are posted by the blog-owners, it looks like my email and there is a number in parenthesis next to the blog name. So, “Dana - Principled (2)” means there are two new posts on Dana’s blog. I click on her name, read her new posts, and then everything is cleared out again on my list! This has all my blogs in one place, and I can see who’s got something new to share without even looking at their blog!
There are lots of options you can fiddle with and change, but you’ll have to have fun playing with those things yourself! I can’t make it too easy! LOL!
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June 19, 2006 - Untitled Comment
I think I'll link your post in my sidebar...