By Robert MacMillan
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Friday, June 3, 2005
8:00 AM
"We do what we must and call it by the best names." Using Ralph Waldo Emerson as my guide, I suggested in a column last month that we rename a new technology that makes it easier for us to get information quickly on the Internet.
My suggestion was to scrap RSS, which stands for "Really Simple Syndication," and replace it with KOSS, or "Kind of Simple Syndication." I believe that this presents a more accurate description of how most people outside the technophile community will think of it after they try using it.
I said that many Web sites use it (including washingtonpost.com), but even their often lengthy and friendly instructions prove too difficult for millions of "average" Internet users to follow. As a result, they'll give up on RSS before discovering how cool it really can be. That will do little to help the Web sites that are using it to increase their exposure, and often, their income.
I also advised Web sites to make RSS unavoidable, friendly and simple enough that all people had to do was click once on those orange "XML" buttons (or whatever button they desire) and have it immediately show up in an RSS reader that also could be downloaded and installed in one click.
That column received no shortage of responses. I present some here, along with some rebuttals from yours truly.
The Fat Lady's Response* "Opera version 8 now has an integrated RSS reader, so it's about as easy as you can get. I'm not sure any technology is actually seamless, but this is pretty close. More and more major news websites are now using it, in addition to the bloggers, and it's a key factor in Podcasting." -- Randall Meston, London, U.K.
Rijk van Geijtenbeek, Wijk bij Duurstede, Netherlands: "You forgot to mention the great Opera browser. Truly one-click subscription to feeds, and easy access in the browser. As for 'horror stories with this and other supposedly "easy" technologies', I think is simple enough once you figure out what it is. But it is important to recognize that not everyone lives in their Web browser. Many people simply don't need to keep informed about lots of Web sites all the time, so learning about yet another way to stay informed is too much trouble."
* "I had the same experience as you with various RSS feed applications, but then I tried the feature in the Opera browser. One click on the orange tab, one more click of the confirm dialog box. Essentially one click." -- Stephen R. Diamond, Los Angeles, Calif.
Yes, from all accounts Opera is a great browser for handling RSS, but most people don't use Opera. Not only that, I suspect that most people won't be willing to run out and pay for a browser when the ones they have used for years are free. People for the most part will discover RSS through free browsers such as the Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox.
But wait, Robert, did you say "Firefox?" (For those of you interested in downloading Opera, here's the link where you can find it.
Sage Advice* Jenn Huff, Tucson, Ariz.: "I hate to tell you this, but while reading your column (in a Mozilla browser) I downloaded the Sage RSS reader for Firefox. I was able to get RSS feeds up and running pretty quickly. I agree it was not a one-click process, but after I got the hang of the Sage discovery process, its pretty easy."
* "Have you checked out 'Sage,' the RSS plugin for Firefox? It works as well as most readers out there but since it's a Firefox plugin, it is also built directly into the browser. ... There are still some kinks to be worked out, and subscribing to each site isn't as simple as it should be. ... It would be nice if it was simpler than this, but Firefox and its plugins are constantly moving forward, so I suspect this is not too far away." -- Adam Gerard, Washington, D.C.
Let's hope it's not too far away.
RSS Couldn't Be Simpler* "In the last few months I have been using the RSS feeds on Yahoo with great success. At home on my Mac, I really love the new RSS integration in Safari. I love how it tells you how many new stories are available for each feed. I also like how easy it is to add a feed." -- Paul Stauffer, North Potomac, Md.
* "Mozilla's standalone email product, Mozilla Thunderbird, will download RSS into its own set of directory folders. It works better than the browser, and because it downloads the entire article into the body of the email. (rather than just a teaser line or two) it's a lot easier to use. ... Good luck." -- Tim Herr, Fairfax, Va.
* "I just read your article from yesterday about RSS feeds. Really and truly -- it's not all that difficult once you get past the mysterious jargon! You mentioned Bloglinesand I'm sure dozens of people have already written to inform you: Bloglines DOES have a 'one click' subscription thingie. It's their 'Easy Subscribe Bookmarklet.' It's not especially easy to find it on their Web site!" -- Rebecca Hartong, Fairfax, Va.
I got a kick out of Rebecca's humorous note. Yes, all you have to do is get past the mysterious jargon. In a recent conversation I had with MCI senior executive Vint Cerf -- dubbed by many as "the father of the Internet," -- he told me that he sees RSS as being where e-mail was 10 years ago. Back then, he said, it was difficult just to persuade self-described technophobes to go online. They use the Internet now, all right, but the jargon is still enough to make most people turn back before they happen on something that, had they discovered it, they couldn't live without.
Give the People What They Want* "I agree with you that it has to be really easy, otherwise it is just not worth the potential time drain to just check it out. It seems the same is true more and more, with the time poverty issue -- if it's not one-click (whether it's going to a concert, or signing your kid up for after school arts programs) it might just not fit into the schedule." -- Steve Ames, Morrisville, Vt.
This is a good point that Rijk from the Netherlands made above. Strange as it may sound, it's true that there are some people who have other things to do than check up on their 5,000 favorite Web sites. I am not one of those people.
* "I desperately want to try RSS but feel it's too daunting to try on my own." -- Zane L. Parker, Georgetown, Del.
Aw c'mon, Zane, you'll be all right. I did say "Kind Of Simple," not "Ridiculously Stupid Syndication." The best thing to do might be to follow the advice of some of the readers above. Yahoo, as some readers and one friendly PR rep informed me, makes this a quite easy process, though it still relies on Web site operators including Yahoo's RSS button on their pages.
* "Amen. The one-click idea seems to have escaped this part of the Web world and it's a shame. With many years of software development behind me, I took about 20 minutes to figure it out." -- Howard Davis, San Francisco, Calif.
That's 19 and 1/2 minutes more than the mystified average user will take.
* "[I] gave up on RSS, having decided that a) it was too difficult to implement simply, and b) I have to balance between staying informed and being swamped, and RSS came out looking too much like being swamped. However, I discovered a compromise solution with Lektora. It's very easy to use, gives me complete control, and even better, allows me to add sites that do not have RSS feeds, which would be half of the sites I troll." -- John McNeil, Christchurch, New Zealand.
* "My main problem with RSS is that its branding as some sort of 'wire service' makes me feel like just the text from RSS feeds should appear in my RSS viewer. Headlines do indeed show up, but when I click them, I am transported to a Web site with the posted information. I would like it much more if an RSS viewer could 'rip' the text from the selected feeds, and send me that information instead -- eliminating the need to visit Web sites." -- David Gitlin, Louisville, Ky.
* "I tried to set the feed (feeds?) up a few days ago and totally failed. ... I am a mainstream user who is interested but apparently not interested enough (yet). I might be shamed into trying again if RSS becomes the norm but, for now, your story quelled soaring panic that I am once again being flung out of the personal-technology whirl-a-wind, back into the realm of technopeasants." -- Jo Mancuso: Portland, Ore.
Don't panic! I know this phrase is coming back into style with the Hitchhiker's Guide out in the movies now, but really. Technology frightens many people still because we feel like it might somehow bite us if we turn away from the monitor for a second. Fear not. Many actions done online can be undone too.
* "I'm far from a technophobe but not an unquestioning technophile. Your column is the first that has even piqued my interest in RSS, primarily because you're so frank about not being impressed to date. As for pasting the info from the 'orange button' into a registration form, that's a hilarious example of accidental genius. Similar events have occurred in my long hate-love relationship with my PC; it's how most of us keep persevering." -- Linn Blanchard, Dickson County, Tenn.
"Grandma Linn" (as she calls herself) told me more about how geography affects her Internet experience: "I live out in the boonies on a TN creek in Dickson county: Garners Creek Road. My only internet access is a rural telephone line which provides 28.8 Kbps on a good day, like now. There's not adequate profit to the cable companies to come here and satellite uplinks aren't fast enough to justify sacrificing my huge walnut trees. My great hope is for the local electric system to install the latest technology which piggybacks internet connections on the ubiquitous electric grid."
Sounds like material for a future column. Thanks, Grandma Linn.
* "I use Firefox as a browser. I, like you, tried clicking on the 'xml' orange boxes and got garbage. I had the most trouble with the Washington Post site, even after reading the instructions. One day, I noticed a strange icon in the lower left corner of my screen when I was on the CNN site. I clicked on it and that was my epiphany. With that one click I had a live bookmark! However, the Washington Post (and others) was a mystery." -- Ray Merlin, San Antonio, Texas.
There's nothing like a little healthy constructive criticism. Meanwhile, here's a story of someone who stuck it out and reaped the reward:
* "My introduction to [RSS] was prompted mostly by sheer curiosity of those annoying orange blocks on the sidebars of so many sites. Most technology advances, particularly of the computer variety, annoy me. What is this new scrap of useless technology, and how much is it going to cost me (in time)? The explanations of "RSS Feed" really got my goat. Can they stop speaking binary long enough to tell me what this is? I kept at it because there was just enough intelligible language to let me know that it might be useful. Turns out, yes, it is. I use the feeders to keep me up on business, technology and energy/environmental news." -- Tanya Flemons, Washington, D.C.
As Emerson's friend Henry David Thoreau said, "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!"
Thanks to all who wrote to me, and let's keep talking about technology and how it fits -- or doesn't -- in your daily life. Write to me anytime.