About Feeds...

When I investigated the world of blogs, I wondered how people have time to visit one blog after another. Turns out, a lot of people use a newsfeed-like service called RSS feeds. Think headlines in Times Square — except that a software program on your PC gathers only the headlines that you want-from blogs or other information sources (e.g. NPR news) that you want to stay connected to. When you click on a headline you can see the entire posting. Or don't. New headlines appear regularly and automatically as new postings appear.

These free software programs are called "newsreader" or "news aggregrator" or "feedreader" programs. Search Google under "news aggregators" and you'll find several sites that provide a list of newsreaders. Confused? Not to worry. Below are step-by-step instructions.

Here's how you can stay updated on new blog posts, using a newsreader program.

Step 1: Pick your newsreader. Type into Google "news aggregators" and click on a website that gives a list of newsreaders. Some newsreaders work by popping a window up at your desktop when there's a new blog posting. Others are viewed through a web browser. Some newsreaders are made for specific operating systems. Follow the instructions for installing or subscribing to the newsreader.

Step 2: Add my blog "Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Living", to your newsreader as a source of headlines you want to see.

• On the right side of the blog, scroll down to the words, "Subscribe to This Blog's Feed." Put your cursor over the words, "Atom.xml feed" or "RSS feed" and right click with your mouse. Select "Copy shortcut."
• Follow the instructions for your newsreader on adding a feed. Paste the url of my blog into the newsreader screen.
• You should see the title of my blog, "Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Living.
• When you are complete, my blog will be a feed from which your newsreader will gather headlines.

Congrats! You're done. Enjoy getting the headlines of my blog posts automatically delivered to your PC. Click on the ones that sound interesting to read the full post.