10 steps to RSStocracy with Bloglines
Here are the 10 simple, painless steps to becoming an RSS user with Bloglines. You can look for steps to using other newsreaders here.
- Go to Bloglines.com web site at http://www.bloglines.com.
- In the upper-right of the Bloglines main page, click on Register (or you can cheat and click here to go directly to Bloglines’ registration page.)
- Complete the very short registration form.
- Check your e-mail for an e-mail from Bloglines. Click on the validation link in that e-mail message.
- Clicking the link will take you to a Bloglines page that says “account validation complete”, and lists a bunch of optional ways to use Bloglines. Scroll down to the paragraph titled “Finding and Subscribing to Blogs” and click on “easy subscribe bookmarklet”. (If you’ve gotten distracted en route, you can click here to go directly to the Bloglines easy subscribe bookmarklet page).
- The bookmarklet page gives you a little bit of code that you stick in your browser’s bookmarks bar (the line just under the back and forward buttons) to make a “Subscribe to Bloglines” button. Follow the Bloglines bookmarklet page instructions for your web browser, and add the “Sub with bloglines” button to your bookmarks bar.
- Now you’re ready to subscribe to some news feeds. Go to some of your favourite blogs and news sites (maybe the ones you have saved in your browser’s “favourites” bar) and subscribe to their feeds. (See below for details) OR
- Use my list of feeds to get started:
- While logged into Bloglines under your own username, go to my public list of Bloglines subscriptions; click on folder titles that interest you to see which feeds I subscribe to.
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on a particular folder or feed title to preview the latest news items it contains. If you find a feed that interests you, click “subscribe” in blue button bar on the upper-right-hand side of the page.
- Once you’ve got some subscriptions set up, go to your Bloglines feeds page to read the news as it comes in.
- Make sure that you check your feeds regularly so you stay up-to-date. Your best bet is to add a bookmark for your Bloglines feeds page to your browser’s bookmark bar, or (my approach) make your Bloglines feeds page your web browser’s home page by entering this URL: http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs as your home page in your browser’s preferences.
