This post provides several ways to manage, maintain, and organize your feeds, as well as ways to create feeds for any website.

Manually Installing or Configuring Feeds on Popular Blog Software

Blogger

To redirect a feed, go into the Settings | Site Feed tab of your blog, then input your FeedBurner or other feed URL into the text box next to the “Feed Direction” area.  Finally, click Save Settings and your content/RSS feed will be redirected from your Blogger address to the one you have inserted.

You are also able to provide different configurations of your feed under this tab, including Full, Short, or No feeds for blog posts, blog comments, and per-post comment feeds.  These are found by selecting the Advanced Mode, in which you may also input a feed footer.

Adding a Feed to Blogger (Template Tags):

To add a feed to the sidebar or any other location of your site, refer to this page in the Blogger Help area.

Full Site Feed Address:

Atom 1.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
RSS 2.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Comments-only Feed:

Atom 1.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default
RSS 2.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=rss

Label-specific Site Feed:

Atom 1.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default/-/labelname
RSS 2.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=rss/-/labelname

Individual Post Comment Feed:

Atom 1.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/postId/comments/default
RSS 2.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/postId/comments/default?alt=rss

Drupal

Setting up Drupal feeds is easy with this guide on how to migrate your content to FeedBurner for redirection.

WordPress

Instructions for setting up, changing addresses, and managing your WordPress feeds can be found within the WordPress Codex.

Default WordPress Feeds:

RDF/RSS 1.0 feed - [sourcecode language='php']http://blogtipz.com/feed/rdf/[/sourcecode]
RSS 0.92 feed - [sourcecode language='php']http://blogtipz.com/feed/rss/[/sourcecode]
RSS 2.0 feed - [sourcecode language='php']http://blogtipz.com/feed/[/sourcecode]
Atom feed - [sourcecode language='php']http://blogtipz.com/feed/atom/[/sourcecode]
Comments RSS 2.0 feed - [sourcecode language='php']http://blogtipz.com/comments/feed/[/sourcecode]

Feed URL Locations:

Files

http://example.com/wp-rss.php
http://example.com/wp-rss2.php
http://example.com/wp-rdf.php
http://example.com/wp-atom.php

Addresses

http://example.com/?feed=rss
http://example.com/?feed=rss2
http://example.com/?feed=rdf
http://example.com/?feed=atom

Custom Permalink Addresses

http://example.com/?feed=rss
http://example.com/?feed=rss2
http://example.com/?feed=rdf
http://example.com/?feed=atom

Custom Category Feed Addresses

http://example.com/wp-rss2.php?cat=42
or
http://example.com/category/categoryname/feed

Movable Type

RSS Template guides for Movable Type can be found here.

20+ Services and Pieces of Software for Converting HTML/Content to RSS Feeds

Services that require a subscription or had websites that appeared to be promoting the product as trial ware were not added to the list.  These services and products can be used for free or with an account.

1. Feed 43 (Feed For Free) - Allows you to convert any web page to an RSS feed on the fly.  Feeds created by the service are supported in several popular browsers, and there are also paid options available for creating paid feeds and taking advantage of more features.  As an account is required to use the service, it may be worthwhile to note that the paid services ($29, $49, $89/year) support an increased feed update interval, don’t have a ‘Delivered by Feed43 service” tagline, support a higher number of news items per feed, and have a higher search pattern complexity.

The procedure of setting up a feed is quite simple:

1. Find a web page with the content that interests you.
2. Create a new feed with your account, which will point to that web page.
3. Define search patterns and output templates in feed parameters for this feed, and get the link to your feed.
4. Subscribe to this feed or share it with others.
5. You can also protect the feed with a password.

2. Dapper - (The Data Mapper) allows you to get any content from the web, providing more traffic to your website by licensing and distributing your content.  it allows you to create a content feed from any website, then convert it to a Dapp XML, RSS Feed, Google gadget, Netvibes Module, Google Map, iCalendar, or Image Loop.  You can even take content from other RSS feeds to convert it into those formats.  The main benefit of creating a Dapp is that you can collect sample pages, content, and save feeds for viewing later.  View a video demo of how to create an RSS feed using the service.

3. Feed Generate - This site generates RSS feeds for any URL with text links.  It claims it is perfect for online stores that cannot generate RSS feeds for new items.  One of the only caveats of the service is that it is ad-supported, otherwise it is $8.95 a month (quite a hefty price) for a simple service.

4. FeedFire - For free, FeedFire allows you to generate feeds for any site without any technical knowledge.  It can convert any website into a fully formed and coded RSS feed.  Requires a registration to begin creating feeds.

5. Feedity - Enables anyone to create an RSS feed for any website for free.  You can track website changes in real-time, pull content for mashups, publish feeds on your website, and combine and aggregate multiple RSS feeds.  An API is coming soon and several features have recently been added to the service (Blog).  Plans range from free (w/ or w/o account) to Premium ($39/year) to Pro ($369/year) with more feeds, items per feeds, no ads, an increased feed update interval, feed aggregation, and redundancy.  6. Feedwhip - “The easiest way to create RSS feeds and get email updates for your favorite web sites.”  No configuration is required - simply input the website address that you want to convert into an RSS feed.  You can set specific times of the day to check for updates, filter out particular words or phrases, filter objectionable content, and generate a list of all the changes to a website for the past week.  You may also create an account to manage your feeds.

7. FeedYes - Automatically generates feeds for any website on the web.  You must register and log in if you want to manually create feeds or save them.  FeedYes will work with nearly any website, except those that are built in frames, Flash, or using link text instead of contextual text.

8. Ponyfish RSS Feed Builder - This service allows you to convert any site into an RSS feed.  You simple point input a website address into the form, then follow a few steps to create a feed.  Again, a variety of plans are available, ranging from free (w/ or w/o account) to Platinum at $60/year.

9. RapidFeeds - Create RSS feeds, publish, import, and manage existing ones, update and schedule your feeds, broadcast your thoughts, and start podcasting with Rapid Feeds.  There are many additional features, which would create a long list.  To keep it shorter, you can also add a button so others can re-syndicate your feed, re-syndicate and display RSS and Atom feeds of your choice on your own website, and password protect your private and paid feeds.  Read their blog for updates.

10. RSS To JavaScript - This tool allows you to republish your feed (RSS, RDF, or Atom) into any webpage, blog,or content management system.  Various features include first time visitors, site news, latest updates/changes, and user registration for your feeds.  There is also a tool to style the page/feed.

11. RSSPECT - This tool makes syndication and RSS easy.  They offer three kinds of feeds, so you can add a feed to anything you find online.  No ads appear on any feeds, and more than half a million RSS entries have been managed by the service to date.  A premium account is available for $2/month, providing a higher feed limit, more frequent automatic updates, and full customization.

12. Feed Commander - A small tool to create a free RSS feed “in as little as 90 seconds.”  You receive complete control over the RSS feed you display on your website and it is fully configurable.  Two version of the tool are available - free and paid, but the free version requires a link back to their website at the footer of each post.

13. RSS Viewer - A tool that simplifies the process of creating an RSS feed.  You can manage and view RSS feeds or combine up to five of your favorite sites into one feed.  The main negative aspect of the service is that it doesn’t allow you to use your own feeds (that I am aware of), instead major news sites.

14. FeedPublish - Create your own RSS feed - update and distribute as many feeds as you’d like.  The service is completely free, but requires an account.  You can add channels and items, track statistics, and customize your feed using the powerful features.  There is absolutely no software to download, as your feed is managed online.

15. CoffeeCup RSS News Flash - A trial-ware program (21 day trial, then $34.00 | Vista, XP, Media Center only) allows you to add your news to your website or news from other sites using Flash.  You can add links to other pages, save space while improving the look of your site, and add styles to the feeds.  

16. RSSxl - A not-so-slick tool to generate an RSS 2.0 feed from nearly any webpage.  The interface may not be the most advanced and eye pleasing, but does the job, although you may not use it for commercial use and you must also agree to a long list of terms (mostly standard).

17. Ice Rocket RSS Builder - The IceRocket RSS Builder allows you to easily create RSS feeds for websites, making it easy to add topics, links, and content, then publish the feed to your web server with a single click.  Free, but requires registration.

18. Web2RSS - Turn nearly any page into an RSS feed, and receive updates from the website, no matter how it is published.  Using Regular Expressions, you can make the feed even more precise, otherwise this is a simple tool to use, considering that the main page only consists of two main steps.19. WebRSS - A tool that allows you to quickly track, market, and create RSS feeds for free.  Other services on the website include the ability to place any feed and convert it to display fresh content on your website or blog, or host any RSS feed on your personalized start page for free.

The site is fairly clean and organized, and makes the process simple to create a new feed.  It even markets it to the major ping servers and more.  Account required for managing feeds.

• Create RSS feeds, import, and manage existing feeds.
• Track your RSS feed distribution by day, week, and month.
• Validate your feed.
• Display any RSS or Atom feeds on your website or blog.
• Convert RSS feeds to Javascript, PHP, ASP, or HTML.
• Customize colors of RSS wrappers.
• Display weather feeds, news feeds, affiliate feeds, and more on your website.
• Create your own hosted start page with a personalized web address.
• Add any feed to this page.
• Use WebRSS to customize how the feeds are displayed on this page.
• Show only the feeds you want to display and share your feeds with others.

20. Fedafi Online RSS Feed Builder - Easily create a RSS 2.0 feed by completing the form on the website, and place the .xml file on your server or website.

As always, it is important to remember the leader in feed distribution, FeedBurner, which allows you to easily distribute your feed even if you decide to move your blog and your RSS feed URL, as well as provides feed subscription tools and tracking.  However, it requires a defined RSS feed to be created on your server/website.

Conclusion

While these are services to convert and distribute content from your site to an RSS/Atom feed, they are basic solutions if your site requires a feed to syndicate your content.  It is more beneficial to properly set up an RSS feed (nearly all major blog systems have a system built-in) for readers to subscribe.  However, many of these are beneficial for use with sites you wish to create an alternative feed for (keeping track of changes to shopping websites, for example).  

Are there any other services that you have come across that complete this task?

These tools are all highly recommended to check out if you are a blogger or simply want to keep up-to-date with your favorite websites.  In other words, all plugins associated with reading recently updated content or creating feeds has been showcased in this post.  Add-ons are not in any particular order, and images can be clicked on for a full-size preview.

Some of the best readers in this list can serve as off-line readers, especially as alternatives to online readers such as Google Reader and others.

Experimental add-ons are for advanced users and caution should be taken when installing or using these, as they have not been tested by an editor.  You must login to access these add-ons.

Note: It is recommended that you stick with plugins that are compatible with your browser version, either 2 or 3, or the most recent version of the plugin.

50+ Tools for Managing, Reading, Subscribing, or Collaborating Links/Stories with Others

1. DapperFox is an extension that adds a small icon next to the RSS icon in the browser.  Whenever you visit a website, the extension will show you RSS feeds that others have created, as well as create a new feed to share with the community - for sites that do not have its own RSS feed, or doesn’t meet your needs.

The site recommends creating an RSS feed for your wall at Facebook, for any search at YouTube, for your town’s newspaper, and more.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

2. rssPlayPen allows you to interact with your feeds while browsing.  You can drag and drop RSS, Atom, XML, and podcast links and play or view them instantly.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, Not Firefox 3.0
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

3. RSS Validator is an add-on that validates a page using the W3C RSS validator.  It allows you to right click on the page or go to the Tools menu to validate the feed, with results opening in a new tab. 

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.0b4pre, last updated on April 26, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

4. Brief makes reading RSS feeds easier and more intuitive.  It includes a full set of features that people look for in an RSS reader, place on a simple, interactive page, allowing you to bookmark and tag items with a single click.  

Some of the features include headlines, which gives you a compact display, in-browser viewing, keyboard shortcuts, search box, automatic checking, and options/settings for each feed.

Brief has received a 5/5 star rating from 50 reviewers.

Compatibility: Versions 3.0-3.0.*, last updated June 16, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

5.  Atomic is an Atom Publishing Protocol, designed for creating and manipulating Atom feeds.  It is useful as a blogging client or for accessing services such as Google Data.  Good companion to AtomMojo for manipulating feeds in a database.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*
Links:  Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

6. Wizz RSS News Reader Lite is a stripped down version of the Wizz RSS News Reader.  It features many of the functions of the full-featured version, without the Watch List and the weather area.

Some of the additional features include:

• Supports all versions of RSS, Atom 0.3 and 1.0, Podcast (Enclosure) feeds, the Feed protocol
• Integrated with Places
• Filter news items on words and/or phrases
• Feed Search - finds feeds/OPML identification with correct mime types
• Feed items stored locally for a set period of time (changeable)
• Quick Read function to test/preview feeds before adding them
• Supports OPML import and export (from local file or remote host)
• Read all feeds in a category with a single click
• Optionally display sidebar on right hand side or hide read items
• Optional server storage of feeds for easy access from any computer
• Publish feeds on any website
• Integrated Live Bookmark import and support
• Email sharing of news items/feeds using SMTP
• Domain-specific Google search (integrated), Feedster search, Feedbase search
• Gmail checker

Compatibility: Versions 3.0b5-3.0.*
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

7. Monalo Toolbar allows you to show RSS feed headlined in the toolbar, letting you select a list of topics to import headlines from feeds relating to the chosen topic.  Other abilities include notification when there are updates to your RSS feeds, and allows you to share links with others.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-2.0.0.*
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

8. NewsFox is an efficient three-pane e-mail style Atom and RSS feed reader.  You can group feeds, read feed content offline, update feeds, one-click subscription, and read other feeds while updating.  Available in several languages.

5-star rating from 36 reviewers.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, last updated June 4, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

9. 22Pixels Sidekik allows you to add, view, edit, and share all your feeds from a sidebar, so you still have room to work in the main screen area.  Includes several shortcuts for easier access.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-2.0.0.*, Not Version 3.0
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page (Not Available)

10. NewsBar is a tool that places information at the top of the browser, directing you to the original post/story when clicked on.  You can also manage multiple feeds, order them automatically through several methods, and add feeds with a built-in wizard.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page (None)

11. AddThis All-In-One Bookmarking Button allows you to save and collect bookmarks, feeds, podcasts, and product links while searching and is compatible with most bookmarking, feed reader, podcasting, and shopping services.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-2.0.0.*, Not Firefox 3.0
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

12. Enhanced Feed Preview displays feeds using author style sheets (author style sheets), otherwise it will use Firefox’s built-in feed preview.  it displays subscription messages for the feeds which have style sheets, with options for which subscription messages are shown.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0a3, updated February 9, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

13. Wizz RSS News Reader is a more feature-packed version than the “Lite” version, listed above.  It includes everything that the lite version has, so there is no need to go into depth again.  The main features that this version does have, however is more language support, weather reports, as well as more options.

Compatibility: Versions 3.0b5-3.0.*, last updated on June 8, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

14. Reliby is a small tool which reloads all of your Live Bookmarks or RSS feeds with the push of a single button.  Comments have provided rave reviews of this little extension.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.1a1pre, last updated on May 31, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

15. FeedGhost Add-on integrates with the FeedGhost RSS reader, allowing you to subscribe to feeds using FeedGhost, tag we pages with a right click menu or status bar button.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-2.0.0.*, last updated February 6, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

16. Sage-Too is a Firefox 3 port of the original Sage feed reader with added functionality and bug fixes.  This is one of the most popular feed readers for Firefox at this point, with more than ten thousand downloads per week.  Although it is lightweight, it still features many popular and demanded features.

• Reads RSS versions 0.9x, 1.0, 2.0 and Atom Feeds
• Feed Discovery
• Integrates with Firefox’s bookmark storage and Live Bookmarks
• Imports and exports OPML feed lists
• Newspaper feed rendering customizable via style sheets
• Translated into several languages
• Technroati and RSS search engine integration
• Added security, feed parser, tabbing, ad-blocking, cooperation with social bookmarks, automatically mark all items as read, and more

Compatibility: Versions 3.0b5-3.0.*, last updated June 5, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

17. RSS Ticker loads your Live Bookmarks and scrolls the titles of them across the screen while you are browsing the web.  The ticker can be placed in various locations, as it features customizable options for teh display, including the scroll speed, smoothness, and link width.  

Works with either RSS or Atom feeds, or your Live Bookmarks.  The main feature of this add-on versus other news scrollers is the added features and customization.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated on June 19, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

18. PicLens is a full-screen, 3D experience for viewing news feeds, sports feeds, images, videos, and more.  The reason that it was included in this list is because it provides an alternative way to view media RSS-feeds (primarily for photo sites). 

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated on June 16, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

19. Feed Sidebar is an extension that displays the items from your Live Bookmarks in the sidebar.  It’s main purpose is to be a lightweight extension of the RSS capabilities already included in Firefox, rather than a completely new feed management system.  

It includes several options for reading feeds, and uses its own history to track read items, so you can clear the browser history without clearing the feed history.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated on July 7, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

20. Read It Later makes it easy to save pages of interest and read them later - no clutter for sites that you would normally only visit once and delete later.

Features:

• Saves pages to a reading list - for viewing later
• Offline Reading Mode for reading sites with no connection
• RSS Feeds - Automatically adds feeds (requires importing) for viewing within the add-on
• Sync Between Computers allows you to read your feeds from multiple, different computers
• Allows you to bookmark pages on your preferred bookmarking service
• Click to Save Mode - Saves a reading list simply by clicking on interesting links

Compatibility: Versions 3.0b3-3.0.*, last updated on July 7, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

21. Beatnik is a simple, elegant news reader for RSS and Atom feeds.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-2.0.0.*, last updated on November 7, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page  

22. Update Scanner helps you monitor web pages for updates, especially those that don’t provide Atom or RSS feeds.

Features:

• Select update interval
• Changes are automatically highlighted
• Minor changes may be ignored
• Full international support

Compatibility: Firefox 3.0-3.0.*, last updated on June 23, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

23. Read4Me is an XUL Client front end to read4me server, a Python feed reading web service.  It reads Atom or RSS atom feeds and reports how much you will like the articles.  It also includes a server and Firefox extension client.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated on October 25, 2006
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

24. Simple RSS Reader (SRR) is a tool for quickly reading your RSS feeds, with a built-in preview, navigational bar, and setup panel.  Supports all Atom and RSS feeds.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0b3, last updated on March 20, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

25. Google Reader Watcher quickly checks your Google Reader for unread feeds and will display them in the Firefox status bar.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, last updated on May 25, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

26. Sage (a different version) is a lightweight RSS and Atom feed reader.  Features include support for all versions of RSS and Atom feeds, feed discovery, integrates with Firefox’s bookmark system, imports/exports OPML feed lists, includes newspaper feed rendering customizable via style sheets, plus support for multiple languages.

Compatibility: Versions 3.0b1-3.0.*, last updated on June 23, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

27. infoRSS displays RSS/Atom/parsed HTML and NNTP feeds is an a scrolling area in the status bar.  It is also compatible with podcast RSS feeds, which can be directly downloaded.  It also functions as a good Gmail notifier.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.0b3, last updated on March 1, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

28. Skipstor [EXPERIMENTAL] allows you to mark RSS feeds you’re interested in and notifies you of updates.  It allows you to search through all feeds and watch for new ones, and sits in your toolbar, as well as tells you about new items you haven’t read, skipping through those that you don’t want to read/new items.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated on July 13, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

29. feedXI Clipping Tools [EXPERIMENTAL] is an add-on that allows selected content to be saved as a feedXI clipping, which then can be displayed in a variety of widgets.

The widgets can then be placed on websites, and you may merge and filter existing feeds, or extend the information you publish to include clips from anywhere from the web.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated on August 3, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

30. Netvibes [EXPERIMENTAL] adds a Netvibes button to your toolbar and makes Netvibes your default feed reader.  It allows you to quickly and easily add RSS feeds to your Netvibes page.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated on June 10, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

31. FoxBurner [EXPERIMENTAL] allows you to monitor your FeedBurner account - feed’s hits and subscribers.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated on October 15, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

32. LiveLines [EXPERIMENTAL] adds RSS feeds to web-based readers, reader extensions, or desktop readers with the RSS icon in the status bar.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-1.5.0.*, last updated on March 18, 2006
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page  

33. Ecastr Toolbar [EXPERIMENTAL] is a toolbar that enables you to bookmark websites and subscribe to feeds with a single click.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated November 17, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

34. Feedno.nl [EXPIERMENTAL] allows you to add your personal Feedo directly from Firefox.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, last updated June 25, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

35. FeedBag [EXPERIMENTAL] is an add-on that allows you to subscribe to feeds in Liferea, a feed reader for Linux and Unix.  It disables the Live Bookmarks feature for Firefox, and current feeds will be directly added to the Liferea feed list.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-1.5.0.*, last updated on September 26, 2006
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

36. Google Reader Toolkit  [EXPERIMENTAL] is an extension that places an icon in the Firefox status bar, and notifies you if there are any updates to your feed list.  It is based on the Bloglines Toolkit.  A disadvantage is that it doesn’t support authentication, so you need to be logged in to the service.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0, last updated on June 16, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

37. Iris  [EXPERIMENTAL] is an extension that displays Google Reader subscriptions in the Firefox sidebar.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-1.5.0.*, last updated on July 11, 2006
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

38. gReader Comments [EXPERIMENTAL] is a Greasemonkey script-turned-extension that brings Disqus conversations into Google Reader.  All entries have a comment thread, and you will be able to join the existing conversation for blogs that use Disqus.  Includes Disqus and Bookmarklets functionality.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, last updated on May 19, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

39. RichFeedButton [EXPERIMENTAL] allows you to use one button to subscribe to feeds in programs such as Thunderbird, the clipboard.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.0b4pre, last updated on June 23, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

40. Intranet Feed Reader [EXPERIMENTAL] is an intranet feed reader and collaboration tool useful for part of a developer’s dashboard.  It can display any intranet feed, useful for information necessary for day-to-day work.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, updated June 14, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

41. BlogRovr fetches post from your favorite blogs, and shows you summaries of the posts, without having to leave the page you were on.  It also suggests popular items and lets you Twitter about any site you’re on.

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated May 18, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

42. OPML Reader is a feed reader for any OPML Autodiscovery enabled page.  Choose between Optimized OPML browser and Grazr.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.1a1pre, last updated on November 22, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

43. Better GReader allows you to preview web pages inline in Google Reader, collapse the header and sidebar for more reading area, and get additional skins, add Favicons, and more.

Compatibility: Versions 0.8-3.0.*, last updated on July 6, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

44. Habari Xenu [EXPERIMENTAL] is a news aggregator and reader that is compatible with almost all versions of RSS, RDF, and Atom syndication feeds.

Compatibility: Versions 0.8-1.5.0.*, last updated on December 4, 2005
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

45. Launchbeat Launch Me [EXPERIMENTAL] is a service that allows simplified sharing of links, using RSS feeds.  You can send your “friends” the feed name and everyone can contribute.  If your feed has a password, you can share it with friends and get some exclusivity.  

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.0.*, last updated on June 7, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

46. FeedBurner Subscribers [EXPERIMENTAL] sits in the status bar so it does not affect your browsing experience, track any valid FeedBurner Feed with Feed Awareness.  You can also view readers and/or hits to your feed, options to show or not to show labels for your readers and/or hits, and finally, right clicking the icon takes your directly yo your MyFeeds page.  It uses the FeedBurner API so all calls to FeedBurner are completely legitimate.

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-3.0.*, last updated on June 25, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

47. Symbaloo Bookmarker [EXPERIMENTAL] allows you to easily and quickly add sites and feeds to your Symbaloo desktop, and easily access your favorite sites and services.

Compatibility: Versions 1.0-3.0.*, last updated on June 27, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page

48. Buru Picker [EXPERIMENTAL] is a tool that lets you store bookmarks and add RSS feeds, saved to your collection with one click.  

Compatibility: Versions 2.0-3.0.*, last updated on July 7, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

49. Headlines Ticker [EXPERIMENTAL] is a small tool for showing RSS and Atom headlines on the status bar. 

Compatibility: Versions 3.0-3.1a1pre, last updated on July 13, 2008
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

50. Fizzle [EXPERIMENTAL] is a RSS and Atom feed reader that uses your Livemark bookmark feeds.  There is a small orange feed button located in the location bar, which will be present when a RSS or Atom feed is available for that site. 

Compatibility: Versions 1.5-2.0.0.*, last updated on March 27, 2007
Links: Firefox Add-ons | Developer Page 

This list and the growing number of updated/available feed readers is a good indication that there are more RSS readers/tools becoming available for use with Firefox (compared with the sixteen I found in November).  However, more of these need to be kept up-to-date or taken over and/or ported to the new version by other developers.

RSS Day.org

RSS has become one of the leading tools for bloggers, although only a few percent of people who own websites or are active online know about it.

What is RSS?

In simplified terms, RSS is a type of feed format used online that allows publishers to frequently update and deliver their content (blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts) to readers and listeners. [from Wikipedia]

There is no code required to install or use RSS, as most modern blog software automatically includes code to utilize it.  However, if you take a look at the RSS string, with posts, you can see that more is going on behind the scenes than you think.
 

Video Page | Transcript

The current version of RSS (2.0) stands for Really Simple Syndication.  Previous versions (1.0 and 0.90) stood for RDF Site Summary, and RSS 0.91 represented Rich Site Summary.

History

RSS started as a way to deliver information in 1995, when Ramanathan V. Guha and others in Apple Computer’s Advanced Technology Group delivered the Meta Content Framework.  In 1999, the first version of RSS was created by Guha while working at Netscape, and its primary usage was on the personal Netscape.com portal, becoming known as RSS 0.9.  A new version was produced in 1999, called RSS 0.91, by Dan Libby of Netscape.  

The following six years brought some changes to RSS, an update to Version 1.0 and the creation of the Atom feed was begun in June 2003, as a way to ‘clean up’ the issues surrounding RSS.  Mozilla’s Firefox browser first began using the now widely accepted feed icon (orange with a circle and two bars, directed to the right) around 2005 when Microsoft Internet Explorer also began adopting it.  

How Bloggers and Readers Can Better Utilize Feeds

Feeds allow everyone to stay updated.  Let’s say you published a post at eight a.m.  Frequent readers may not know or realize that you published or updated your content.  With feeds (RSS and Atom), they can quickly check, within a fairly short period, and see that their feeds, and your website/blog were updated.  Before feeds, people had to manually go to each site or subscribe to a newsletter-type service, often more costly to both parties in time and money.

Many popular news sites serve feeds, and upon subscribing, you will immediately be alerted when a news story breaks, via your favorite feed reader.  There are several online choices, including Google Reader, and Bloglines.  NewsGator specializes in several feed reading services, both online and offline.

FeedBurner is a service that allows bloggers and publishers to keep track of their feeds and make the process of subscribing via different methods even easier.

Whenever you see the little icon in the address bar or a link on the site that says “Subscribe to Posts”, it typically means that you are going to be subscribing, and staying up-to-date with the content on the site via RSS or similar feed method.

RSS Day is an initiative that Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips began to help spread the word about the benefits of RSS.  [More information via on post] It’s extremely simple to participate in the project.  On May 1st, no matter what type of blog you have, as RSS benefits everyone, write a post about RSS, informing your readers about what the term stands for or how RSS feeds work.

Origins of the Initiative 

Even though most bloggers learn about feeds and subscriptions within the first week they start blogging, most occasional internet surfers have no idea what RSS is or what it does.

Since 2005, the amount of people using RSS aggregators or XML readers to get their news or used them on their websites only increased by about 1.4% while the amount of websites and users only increased tenfold. 

The main purpose of the project is to celebrate the many benefits of RSS and to inform the general public about its uses.

Daniel has created a website to simplify the process of informing people about RSS and includes several banners you can use to spread the word.

Promote RSS Day to Win!

There is also a contest to help spread the word, with over $3,000 in donation prizes available for winning.  By informing readers about the day, you will automatically be entered in (as long as your article is written by April 30th).  

Prizes are as follows:

• 5 $100 credit vouchers from Sponsored Reviews ($500)
• 6 $50 cash prizes via Paypal ($300)
• $250 in credits from FlashDen ($250)
• 1 year of free web hosting from Doreo ($100)
• 5 registrations with 10,000 credits on 125 Exchange ($100)
• 3 copies of Landing Page Optimization: The Complete Guide ($300)
• 3 packages with 100,000 impressions from BlogUpp! ($200)
• a 3-month enrollment to the SEOBook training program ($300)
• 3 single licenses to any iThemes Premium theme ($240)
• 3 $100 credit vouchers to buy links from TNX ($300)
• 5 copies of “Killer Domains: How to Find the Perfect Domain Name” ($100)
• 5 free banner designs from MiniBannersZen ($100)
• 3 single licenses to the Mimbo Pro Premium theme ($300)

Feed Details Page 

Within each feed details area, you’ll now find a Transfer Feed link, which will allow you specify an email address you wish to transfer the feed to.  You can only send feeds from your account to others, not the other way around.  If the recipient does not accept the transfer within 72 hours, the request will be denied on your side.

Step-by-step procedure:

1. Sign in to your account.
2. In the My Feeds list, click the title of the feed you want to send to someone else, then click “Transfer Feed”.
3. A drop down box will now appear, further explaining what you will be doing.  Input the email address in the box, then submit the form.

This is a feature that will come in handy especially for blogs with multiple authors and for blog publishers who are looking to transfer ownership of their blog.

[via Burning Questions] and Google FeedBurner Support

In addition to this, within the Google architecture, it will make it easier to provide more services that haven’t been able to be accomplished before under their separate system.  For one, the FeedBurner Ad Network.  Not only will some of these features include feeds of query results (otherwise known as parameterized feeds), but more email services (possibly better, more feature-rich mailing lists) with tools for importing outside, but legitimate lists.

Speed, scalability, and performance issues that were previously problems will become a priority during the move to Google servers.  This will also allow more bots/crawlers, readers, and API’s to burn the feeds and increase feed activity.

In the near future, look for full integration, but not a huge change in the appearance of FeedBurner.  It appears as though they plan to integrate the features in the process of the conversion or soon thereafter.

[via FeedBurner blog]

This is a cool feature that will be used more often, as you can see when your page was indexed as well as a comparison between how long the post took to reach your Google Reader list.

Numerous other features were added such as a new favicon and added keyboard shorcuts (a to add subscriptions, g+d to open the feed directory, and e to email the current item).

[via Google Operating System]

Two main reasons for the switch are to create a larger user base, so that when they enter the enterprise to sell their NewsGator Enterprise Server and Social Sites, there are already a large amount of people using their desktop RSS and other related applications already. Concerned about what information NewsGator is collecting - visit the FAQ page. The second reason is to collect user information - primarily the activity that users show on their products. Many, if not all programs and websites collect usage information, so this suite is no different - user feedback is often limited as companies need more wide scale information in order to improve their products. In the upcoming months, the online and client applications will be improved as more people take the opportunity to try the free products.

“It’s all about ubiquity,” said Greg Reinacker, NewsGator CTO and founder. “We have more than 100 Fortune 2000 companies using NewsGator Enterprise Server and our client products. In selling to these enterprises, we discovered that thousands of knowledge workers were already using one or more of our client products and we learned that we could drive the relevance of everyone’s experience by using the community’s anonymous content consumption patterns throughout the system. 

Users who purchased the products or renewed a subscription on or after December 9, 2007 will automatically receive a credit on their credit card they used to make the purchase. Allow up to 30 days for processing the credits. If you purchased it six months ago, with a one-year subscription, you will receive all products and updates for free, with the support contract still honored. Customer support will no longer be provided via email, however for all free users.

Now that the products are free, download them and enjoy a new RSS reading experience!

[via Mashable]

The two main reasons for removing the feeds included that duplicate results were likely if feeds were included, and users clicking on a feed may miss valuable content (including Google ads) if they do not visit the HTML page.

Podcasts have not been removed from the search results, due to them typically being a standalone document. However, you may still exclude them from the results by using Feedburner’s noindex. To search for feeds, you can still use Google Reader, Google Blogsearch, iGoogle, or simply Google News (for larger blogs).

This was a good decision by Google, as it will result in better search results, but blogs with feeds previously displayed on the first results page may not have had the same opinion.

Having a feed reader as an extension in your browser can greatly increase the experience you have while reading your favorite blogs - enabling customization as well as being able to choose the extension that makes the most sense for you. In this post, we will explore the various options throughout the top browsers Firefox (the other browsers lack any popular tools for RSS feeds). Bookmarking tools, and those that require registration are not mentioned, although utilities to check feeds/site update time have been, as they provide an additional method for users to stay up to date with their favorite blogs.

Firefox Extensions

Sage is a lightweight RSS and Atom feed aggregator extension for Mozilla Firefox. It’s got a lot of what you need and not much of what you don’t…

 
General Features

• Detects and reads most types of RSS and Atom feeds including RSS (2.0, 1.0, 0.9x)
• Feed Discovery tool allows detection of feeds - detects more than just the one feed present in the address bar
• Drag and drop with integration with Firefox’s bookmark storage and Live Bookmarks
• Easily import and export OPML feed lists
• Use style sheets to customize the layout
• Technorati and RSS search engine integration
• Many languages supported

Screenshots and Navigation

To add a feed, simply click on the ‘Discover Feeds’ button located next to the refresh button in the sidebar. The top portion of the sidebar features the sites you have subscribed to, and to the bottom, posts within the site. On the right (main section), posts are listed as excerpts in an organized manner.

Shown below – Sage screenshots, options menu, adding feeds, and two sample styles.

[Wizz] is a constantly improving RSS and Atom feed reader. It is fairly powerful, feature rich, well supported and has comprehensive online help.

General Features

• All versions of RSS are supported, as well as Atom 0.3 and 1.0.
• Supports Podcast (Enclosure) feeds and Feed protocol.
• Integration with Firefox 2.0 feed handling.
• Enables very rudimentary offline news reading.
• Supports feeds that are GZipped.
• Filter news items on words and/or phrases.
• Find feeds using the Feed Search utility – as long as there is a feed or OPML identified with the correct mime types, Wizz will be able to find it.
• A ‘Quick Read’ function allows a user to quickly view a post excerpt (first 1-2 lines) without clicking on anything – simply hover over a post link
• Watch List integration for monitoring selected feeds (configurable interval). It can also be configured to notify or save new items.
• Export/import feeds to/from other feed readers using OPML support.
• Use the mark as read/unread tool to manage feeds and stay updated with news.
• Allows storage of feeds on a server for easy access on any PC.
• Support for self-published feeds.
• Integrated Features and Tools: Live Bookmark import, email sharing of news items and/or feeds (SMTP implementation), domain specific Google search, Feedster search, Feedbase search, a simple weather reports tool, and a Gmail checker.
• Multiple language support.

Screenshots and Navigation

In my opinion, adding a feed isn’t the simplest task with this extension. Head on over to the Help page as there are many answers to commonly asked questions. Once you are acquainted with the features offered, and how to add feeds (by clicking the Feed Search/magnifying glass icon and double clicking on the feed type you want to add), the Wizz RSS Reader is one of the most customizable and versatile feed readers out there. Note: you are also able to add them by using the Bookmarks menu under ‘Wizz RSS’. Taking a look at the layout, instead of just a sidebar position, it can also be viewed in a small window. The toolbar presents further options, available whenever you browse the web. In addition, like Sage, Wizz RSS features a fairly simple navigation through the category and channel tree.

Images below include a design/layout screenshot of Wizz and a preview of the options menu.
 

Brief makes reading RSS feeds as easy as it gets. It is designed to have the right set of features to be both powerful and simple. Brief stores feeds on your disk and presents them on a seamless, interactive page.

General Features

• Integration with Live Bookmarks – all you need to do is select the folder containing your feeds.
• Mark articles as read and star those that interest you.
• Multiple display options – as a single feed or whole folder, or view full entries or only their headlines.
• Full text search utility.
• An icon in the status bar lets you know when feeds are updated.
• More customizability – style sheets can be used to create a unique experience.
• Keyboard shortcuts – make navigation faster through your news and blog stories.
• Within the options menu you can select how often to check for updates and how long to keep the downloaded items. You may even have separate settings for each feed, if you need.
• Multiple languages supported

Screenshots and Navigation

Feeds are contained in folders, all displayed within a sidebar. Click on a feed or a whole folder to view it. Content is then displayed on a seamless page, with unread items highlighted and buttons on each to mark it as read, starred, or deleted. Different views such as headlines view will give you a more compact display and let you unfold the items you want to display in full. Go to the main site by clicking on the article title.

A Brief screenshot and a preview of the options menu.
 

Other Recommended Browser Feed Readers for Firefox

• NewsFox 0.8.2

- an efficient 3-pane (email) style Atom and RSS feed reader.

Compatible with: Firefox: 1.5-3.0b1, Last Updated: November 14, 2007 – 169 KB, By: Andrey Gromyko, R Pruitt

Features
- Allows users to group feeds as they wish.
- Feed content can be read offline.
- Update feeds at your convenience.
- 1-click subscribe option available with the Firefox URL bar icon.

• Beatnik 1.2

- A simple, but elegant news reader for Atom and RSS feeds.

Compatible with: Firefox: 2.0-2.0.0.*, Last Updated: November 1, 2007 – 166 KB, By: Andy Frank

Features
- Extremely simple, but lacks useful tools. Feeds listed in the left column, expanding/collapsing content is located on the right panel as collapsing/expanding content areas.

• Simple RSS Reader (SRR) 1.1.2.1

- A simple tool for displaying RSS feeds.

Compatible with Firefox 1.5-2.0.0.*, Last Updated: October 9, 2007 – 89 KB, By: Alvaro Junior! and DJIO

Features
- As a toolbar, it simply displays the article, with the ability to scroll and go directly to the article.
- Easy to add new feeds

• Feed Sidebar 1.0.2

- The Feed Sidebar extension for Firefox displays new items from your Live Bookmarks in the sidebar. As a new Firefox feed reader extension, it combines simple, but useful tools to mark feeds as read, or quickly go to the post you want to read.

Compatible with Firefox 1.5-2.0.0*, Last Updated: May 18, 2007 – 34 KB, By: Christopher Finke

• infoRSS 1.1.2
  - An extension that scrolls feeds in the status bar, also compatible with podcasting RSS feeds, which can be downloaded directly. Combines features such as a Gmail notifier, which would require additional extensions. Compatible with Firefox 1.0-3.0a1, Last Updated: December 11, 2006 – 493 KB, By: didier ernotte   

  More: RSS Ticker 1.9 | rssPlayPen | Enhanced Feed Preivew

Stay Updated with Firefox Extensions

Update Scanner 2.0.15 (Firefox 2.0-2.0.0.*) by Pete Burgers displays changes to websites, since you last visited them.

Google Reader Watcher 0.0.9 (Firefox 1.5-2.0.0.*) by Ajnasz checks your Google Reader account for any changes to your favorite blogs, notifying you of any updates. It also serves as a quick link to Google Reader, displayed in the status bar.

Google Reader Notifier 0.36 (Firefox 1.5-3.0a1) by markdbd has more features than the Google Reader Watcher but serves a similar purpose – displaying recently updated feeds from Google Reader plus support for many languages.

Feed Sidebar 1.0.2 (Firefox 1.5-2.0.0*) by Christopher Finke.