What is RSS?

The web has grown deep and vast, and keeping up with the information you want is getting more difficult every day. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it is a way to get a stream of headlines, events, images, or information directly out of a website. Think of it as a news ticker that streams content directly to you.

Not all websites provide RSS feeds, but many news sites do, and recently many universities do as well. The Comet Calendar feed allows you to see what events are coming up on campus, so you can easily keep in touch with what's going on.

How do I use RSS?

Generally speaking, you have three options. First, you can use something called a feed reader, which is a special program for your computer that allows you to subscribe to and read any number of feeds from any number of websites, all in the same place. There are many free feed readers available for download.

The second option is to use your browser. Internet Explorer does not have a built in feed reader, but many other browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, do have this functionality. These browsers automatically check for RSS feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to RSS feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites.

The third option is to plug the RSS feed into an internet portal such as Google Home, My Yahoo! or My MSN. If you are a user of these services, this is a great option to keep tabs the latest news whenever you log in to check your email.

For all three of these options, simply plug in (or point your browser to, if you're using that method) the location of the Comet Calendar feed:

http://www.utdallas.edu/calendar/events.xml

And you're done! The stream will update automatically with the latest events going on at UTD.