4 ms·

> You have to view source to find the URLs. In Firefox, do Right Click->View Page Info. The "Feeds" tabs lists the links. There are also extensions (e.g. "Awe

> You have to view source to find the URLs. In Firefox, do Right Click->View Page Info. The "Feeds" tabs lists the links. There are also extensions (e.g. "Awesome RSS") that will put a symbol in your URL bar.

JoshMnem 8y ago
Thanks, I didn't know that. Mozilla should make that more prominent so that users who don't know what RSS/ATOM is could "subscribe to this website" with just a click.
- groby_b 8y ago
  That was funny. Mozilla used to make that more prominent. Most users didn't care, because they still didn't know what that weird icon meant. That was ultimately the downfall of RSS - the web tech scene never managed to communicate to the average user what RSS was good for, what it did, and how to use it. The issue isn't "not knowing about RSS/ATOM". You don't need to. The same way e.g. you don't need to know what the octane numbers for gasoline mean. What you do need to know is what it does for you, and that answer has always been "not enough to satisfy the hassle". (A good chunk of the blame here goes to all the larger, traffic-hungry web sites that only published excerpts via RSS, with a click-through link. It transformed a useful feed into a rather useless list of self-updating bookmarks)
  - JoshMnem 8y ago
    It wasn't done the right way in the past. Sometimes an implementation is 80% right and you just need to do a few things to get to 100%. It needs a better name than RSS/Atom. It should sound like English: "Subscribe to this website with <better name>." (same icon) "Really Simple Syndication" and acronyms cause non-technical people to shut down. It's a foreign language. (Edit: "Atom" would be a good name, because it's plain English, and probably a better format too.) RSS/Atom didn't decline because of Mozilla -- it declined when Google killed Google reader. The information overload could be solved with machine learning algorithms (run locally in the client) that sort posts into a "featured" folder. There are solutions to all of the current issues with RSS/Atom.
    - Vinnl 8y ago
      "Feed" is pretty common. But you still will only know what it means if you know what it is :)
      - JoshMnem 8y ago
        > you still will only know what it means if you know what it is That's the problem with RSS/Atom. "Feed reader" doesn't mean anything to most people. "Subscribe to this website" does.
        workingwriter 8y ago
        Interesting. In the original post, I clicked on the RSS "link" towards the bottom. Firefox invited me to subscribe via "Live Bookmarks," a Firefox browser feature that may pre-date Google Reader. It's a good name for non-technical people, but I don't know how many people have used it. I'm not even sure how it works.
  - zczc 8y ago
    You can add the RSS toolbar button manually, see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/795692 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/795692
haribilalic 8y ago
Syndicate (https://redalemeden.com/syndicate/ https://redalemeden.com/syndicate/) works similarly well for Safari.
Vinnl 8y ago
You don't even need an extension. Enter Customise mode (in the menu, or right click on a toolbar button), then drag the Subscribe icon to your toolbar.

JoshMnem 8y ago

Thanks, I didn't know that. Mozilla should make that more prominent so that users who don't know what RSS/ATOM is could "subscribe to this website" with just a click.

groby_b 8y ago
That was funny. Mozilla used to make that more prominent. Most users didn't care, because they still didn't know what that weird icon meant. That was ultimately the downfall of RSS - the web tech scene never managed to communicate to the average user what RSS was good for, what it did, and how to use it. The issue isn't "not knowing about RSS/ATOM". You don't need to. The same way e.g. you don't need to know what the octane numbers for gasoline mean. What you do need to know is what it does for you, and that answer has always been "not enough to satisfy the hassle". (A good chunk of the blame here goes to all the larger, traffic-hungry web sites that only published excerpts via RSS, with a click-through link. It transformed a useful feed into a rather useless list of self-updating bookmarks)
- JoshMnem 8y ago
  It wasn't done the right way in the past. Sometimes an implementation is 80% right and you just need to do a few things to get to 100%. It needs a better name than RSS/Atom. It should sound like English: "Subscribe to this website with <better name>." (same icon) "Really Simple Syndication" and acronyms cause non-technical people to shut down. It's a foreign language. (Edit: "Atom" would be a good name, because it's plain English, and probably a better format too.) RSS/Atom didn't decline because of Mozilla -- it declined when Google killed Google reader. The information overload could be solved with machine learning algorithms (run locally in the client) that sort posts into a "featured" folder. There are solutions to all of the current issues with RSS/Atom.
  - Vinnl 8y ago
    "Feed" is pretty common. But you still will only know what it means if you know what it is :)
    - JoshMnem 8y ago
      > you still will only know what it means if you know what it is That's the problem with RSS/Atom. "Feed reader" doesn't mean anything to most people. "Subscribe to this website" does.
      - workingwriter 8y ago
        Interesting. In the original post, I clicked on the RSS "link" towards the bottom. Firefox invited me to subscribe via "Live Bookmarks," a Firefox browser feature that may pre-date Google Reader. It's a good name for non-technical people, but I don't know how many people have used it. I'm not even sure how it works.
- zczc 8y ago
  You can add the RSS toolbar button manually, see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/795692 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/795692

haribilalic 8y ago

Syndicate (https://redalemeden.com/syndicate/ https://redalemeden.com/syndicate/) works similarly well for Safari.

Vinnl 8y ago

You don't even need an extension. Enter Customise mode (in the menu, or right click on a toolbar button), then drag the Subscribe icon to your toolbar.