Middle Tennessee Writing Project

Jun 30

techKNOWtips: RSS

Ever wonder what that orange icon you see on many websites means?  It signifies that the page has an RSS feed, and if RSS is a web tool you haven’t used yet, you’ll want to start. Think of RSS as TiVo for websites.  It stands for Really Simple Syndication, and when a website is enabled [...] [...more]

Ever wonder what that orange icon you see on many websites means?  It signifies that the page has an RSS feed, and if RSS is a web tool you haven’t used yet, you’ll want to start.

Think of RSS as TiVo for websites.  It stands for Really Simple Syndication, and when a website is enabled with it, you can subscribe to any updates to the page.  This eliminates the frustration of visiting favorite sites only to find nothing new, as well as the frustration of missing important updates because you hadn’t gotten around to checking the site again.  When content is updated, it is automatically downloaded to your feed reader, and you can read it at your convenience.

Great, but how do you get started?  Most of the readers of this site use Internet Explorer, so we’ll start there.  See that row of icons in the top right of your browser window?  It should look like this:

See the RSS icon?  If a site has an RSS feed, it will  be orange.  All you have to do is click it, and you will be prompted to subscribe to the feed.  Now look to the far left of the browser.

See the yellow star?  Click that to access your favorites.  You’ll also see a button for feeds.  Anything you subscribe to will go there.  Whenever there is new content the title will be in bold.  You can read the new content straight from the reader, or click through to the live site.  No more missed content!

Why not try it out?  The RSS icon on this page should be orange.  Click it, subscribe to our feed, and never miss important information from MTWP again.  There is also an RSS option on the message boards at TC-Connect.  This is really helpful when you’ve posted something and want to know when someone has responded.  It’s much easier than constantly checking for replies!

Not an Internet Explorer user?  Not a problem.  In Firefox, just look to the right side of the address bar.  Click the RSS icon there and choose “subscribe to RSS”.  Place it in your bookmarks, and you’ll get your information there.

That may seem like a lot of information, but it really is easy to set up, and is a very useful tool.  Feel free to leave a comment with any questions.  And don’t forget to contact us with suggestions for future topics.

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Jun 23

Welcome to the MTWP Blog

You’ve found the Middle Tennessee Writing Project’s blog.  Here you will find announcements about upcoming events, links to information to help guide your inquiry and teaching practices, technology tips, accomplishments of those involved with the writing project and much more. We want to make sure this is a helpful resource for you, the teacher leader.  If [...] [...more]

You’ve found the Middle Tennessee Writing Project’s blog.  Here you will find announcements about upcoming events, links to information to help guide your inquiry and teaching practices, technology tips, accomplishments of those involved with the writing project and much more.

We want to make sure this is a helpful resource for you, the teacher leader.  If there are topics you would like to see covered or questions you would like to see answered, send us an email.  We will either answer them personally or address it in a blog post.

So bookmark this  page, subscribe to our feed (a tutorial on that is coming!), or just make visiting often a habit.  MTWP has a lot going on, and we want you to know about it!

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