The CASCA website now has an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. This allows you to automatically get summaries of all new posts on the site sent to your favourite notification service (be it e-mail, browser, desktop notification centre or Siri) without having to actually visit the site.
What is RSS?
RSS is an open-source aggregator standard: so called because it allows you to aggregate the updates which you are interested in from all over the web into one place in one format. Many, if not most, big websites have an RSS feed or feeds lurking about somewhere. If they don’t supply the RSS icon up front then you can find them with a google search of the form « name of site RSS ». There are also an enormous number of programs that either have RSS feed readers built into them, such as Thunderbird and Internet Explorer, or have a number of plugins that allow RSS feed reading, such as OS X’s notification centre and the Firefox browser.
Depending on the sophistication of the feed and of the reader you can either just get all updates from the site or optionally apply extremely complex filters and rules to your feeds. If you only want to see PhD job postings from the CASCA site then there’s a filter for that. If you’re interested in the SkyTour podcasts over at skyandtelescope.org then you can have those sent to your phone whilst their general astronomical news goes to your desktop. If you only want to get updates on Bank of Montreal appointments if they involve your cousin Shecky then there’s even a filter for that. Most readers provide means for sharing updates in social media and so on. Newscientist.com has a good introduction to RSS.
How to subscribe to our RSS feed
The end result is always a list of summaries of the new updates such as is shown at the left. Each summary has or is a link to the full post. If you don’t already have one the first step to getting there is to get an RSS reader. All of the major free readers are listed below. If the reader has been tested on our site the details of the testing are included. After the reader is set up you use a browser to go to the CASCA homepage. You usually then use the RSS logo button, in the top right corner next to the Twitter icon, to subscribe although a few browser RSS reader add-ons require you to ask that they search for RSS feeds on the current page. Details are below.
Outlook 2019
Outlook has a built-in RSS Reader. The general instructions are here.
Thunderbird
Thunderbird has a built-in RSS Reader. The general instructions are here.
Google Chrome
| Extension name: | RSS Feed Reader |
| Version tested: | 7.6.14 |
| Tested on: | Windows 10 Pro 1909 Build 18363.778 – Google Chrome 81.0.4044.122 OS X 10.12.6 Sierra – Google Chrome 81.0.4044.122 OS X 10.7.5 Lion – Chrome 49.0.2623.112 |
| Where to get: | Go to the Google Webstore and search for Feed Reader |
| How to manage: | Chrome -> Preferences -> Extensions -> RSS Feed Reader |
| How to subscribe: | Click on the Homepage RSS icon |
Firefox
| Extension name: | Feedbro |
| Version tested: | 4.1.3 |
| Tested on: | Windows 10 Pro 1909 Build 18363.778 – Firefox 75.0 Unbuntu 14.04.6 Trusty Tahr – Firefox 72.0.2 Unbuntu 14.04.6 Trusty Tahr – Firefox 66.03 OS X 10.12.6 Sierra – Firefox 75.0 |
| Where to get: | In the Mozilla Store |
| How to manage: | Edit -> Preferences -> Extensions & Themes or Firefox -> Preferences -> Extensions & Themes |
| How to subscribe: | Open the CASCA homepage. Open the extension menu from the RSS icon in your browser toolbar and choose Find Feeds in Current Tab |
| Notes: | Feedbro sometimes gets confused when there are multiple feeds listed on a page. This is resolved by actually clicking on the RSS icon for the feed that you want. This will open a page of program code. Then asking for the extension to Find Feeds in Current Tab as above will subscribe you to this particular feed. |
Safari
| Extension name: | RSS Bot |
| Version tested: | 2.7 |
| Tested on: | OS X 10.12.6 Sierra – Safari 12.1.2 |
| Where to get: | Search for RSS Bot in the App Store. |
| How to manage: | System Preferences -> Notifications |
| How to subscribe: | Click on the RSS icon on the CASCA homepage. |
| Notes: | Not actually part of the browser but something that runs in the background. Its notifications go to the Notification Centre along with your weather and stock market updates. |
Internet Explorer
| Extension name: | built into browser |
| Version tested: | 11.778.18362.0 |
| Tested on: | Windows 10 Pro 1909 Build 18363.778 – Internet Explorer 11.778.18362.0 |
| Where to get: | Comes with the browser |
| How to manage: | Internet Options -> Content -> Feeds and Web Slices |
| How to subscribe: | Click on the CASCA homepage RSS icon |
| Notes: | – Updates are viewed by clicking on the Star in the upper right-hand corner of the browser window which you also click to see your bookmarks and browsing history. – Updates are supposed to be shown in your Notification Centre but this feature seems to be broken for all Apps in Windows 10. |
MicroSoft Edge
| Extension name: | Newsflow |
| Version tested: | 2.1.12.1000 |
| Tested on: | Windows 10 Pro 1909 Build 18363.778 |
| Where to get: | Search for Newsflow in the MicroSoft Store Apps section. |
| How to manage: | The App’s Settings panel |
| How to subscribe: | Press the Plus symbol ‘+’ on the Sources view and follow the instructions |
| Notes: | – RSS feeds, along with a lot of other basic browser functions, aren’t handled by Edge. So if you don’t want to use Explorer instead, there are several stand-alone apps such as this one. – Updates are supposed to be shown in your Notification Centre but this feature seems to be broken for all Apps in Windows 10. – Very nice User Interface. The full articles can be brought up in your favourite browser or inside the App where they are reformatted to a uniform layout reminiscent of an e-book such as Kindle. |