Most people discover writing today through a feed controlled by someone else: a social network deciding what to surface, or an inbox competing for attention. RSS offers an older and quieter alternative. It allows a reader to follow a website directly, on their own terms, with no intermediary deciding what they see. Despite being decades old, it remains one of the most dependable ways to keep up with the writing one actually cares about.
What RSS is
RSS — “Really Simple Syndication” — is a standard format for publishing a list of a site’s recent content as a machine-readable file, called a feed. A feed is simply a structured document (based on XML) that lists each post’s title, summary, link, and publication date. Every time a site publishes something new, the feed is updated to include it.
Because the format is standardised, any compatible program can read any site’s feed. This separation of content from presentation is the quiet strength of RSS: the publisher exposes the data once, and each reader chooses how to consume it.
How a reader uses it
To follow sites with RSS, a person installs a feed reader — an application or web service whose
purpose is to collect feeds and present new items in one place. The reader is given the address of a
site’s feed (this blog’s, for example, is at /rss.xml), and from then on it checks that address
periodically and shows any new posts.
The result resembles an inbox composed entirely of sources the reader deliberately chose, arranged in chronological order, with nothing inserted, promoted, or omitted by an algorithm.
Why it still matters
The value of RSS has, if anything, increased as the alternatives have grown more crowded. Several properties explain its endurance:
- The reader is in control. Items appear in the order they were published. Nothing is hidden to drive engagement, and there are no advertisements between posts.
- There is no account or tracking. Subscribing to a feed requires no login and surrenders no personal data to the publisher; the reader simply fetches a file.
- It is resilient and open. RSS is a long-standing open standard, not a product that can be discontinued. A feed works the same way regardless of which reader consumes it.
- It respects attention. Because the reader subscribes deliberately, the feed contains only what was chosen — a meaningful contrast to channels optimised for time spent.
How to start, in practice
Following feeds requires only two things: a feed reader and a feed address.
Do you need to install an app? Not necessarily. There are two kinds of reader, and either works well:
- Web-based readers require no installation — you create an account on a website and read in your browser. Popular options include Feedly and Inoreader, both of which offer free tiers and also have companion mobile apps if you want them later.
- App-based readers are installed on a phone or computer and are convenient for reading offline or on the go. Common examples include NetNewsWire (free, for Apple devices), Feeder, and Readwise Reader.
The steps are the same regardless of which you choose:
- Pick a reader from the options above. A free web reader is the quickest way to begin, since it needs no download.
- Choose “Add feed” or “Subscribe,” and paste in the feed address. For this blog, that address is
https://aadan.app/rss.xml. Many readers also accept the plain site address (https://aadan.app/blog) and locate the feed for you automatically. - That is the entire process. From then on, every new article appears in your reader in chronological order, with nothing else competing for your attention.
How this site’s feed works
This blog publishes a feed automatically. Each time a post is added, the site is rebuilt and the
feed at /rss.xml regenerates to include the new article, alongside the sitemap. The author writes
nothing extra; the feed is a by-product of publishing. Any reader can subscribe to it and receive
new writing without relying on email or social platforms.
Conclusion
RSS is a modest technology that solves an enduring problem: how to follow the sources one values without ceding control of attention to an intermediary. It asks for no account, inserts no advertising, and respects the reader’s choices. For anyone who wishes to read deliberately rather than be fed, subscribing to a few good feeds remains one of the best decisions available — and it takes only a reader application and a feed address to begin.