RSS feeds for Dummies
By Bernadette Guenot,
would-be RSS specialist
This title was given because I was too lazy to do anything else than
copying the famous „...for Dummies“ series, and it is not meant to
hurt any feelings.
There is no mention of people in this tutorial, meaning that any
resemblance to existing or deceased persons is purely unintentional
and, furthermore, impossible.
If you downloaded this tutorial without proper authorisation, take
care, or the big bad guys from the FBI will come and get you...
Introduction: Why bother with RSS?
First of all, what is RSS?
RSS stands for really simple syndication. It is as simple as a
computer-related thingy can ever get (which doesn‘t mean much),
but don‘t ask about the technical details (I don‘t have a clue).
However, what I do know is that RSS feeds are a very useful and convenient
tool to keep track of newly published papers...
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This tutorial will help you set up a personalised account, which will enable you
to access the table of contents (usually including a short article abstract) of all
your favourite journals.
journal
Title and abstract
The table of contents will
be updated automatically,
as soon as a new issue is
published.
List of subscribed
magazines
No more jammed e-mail account in which you can‘t find what you‘re looking for...
No more weekly checking of journals for updates...
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What more do you want?!
Ready for the grand tutorial? Then let‘s go...
1. Getting started
•Open your internet browser. (e.g. double-click on the internet explorer icon(1))
•Type in www.google.com/reader
This is what you should see:
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(1)
Hope everything‘s clear so far?
2. Creating your user account
Note: if you already have a google account (e.g. For Google calendar or Google blogs), you can use
your e-mail address and password to directly log into Google reader and don‘t need to create a new
account.
•Click on the link:
•Type in your e-mail address and a
password of your choice
•Type the word you see in strange
letters (to make sure you‘re a real
human being – just in case)
•If you feel courageous, read the terms
of service blabla. You can skip that
and just click on „I accept“ (but don‘t
come and cry to me if you regret it
afterwards)
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You will get an e-mail from Google featuring a link you need
to follow for activating your account. You don‘t need to do it
straight away, for the moment just click on „continue“
Congratulations! You‘re nearly there... (I‘m an optimist)
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3. The Google Reader interface
The reason you went to so much trouble signing up for a Google account is
that Google reader is a so-called RSS reader.
An account that has been used for a while will look somewhat like this:
Overview of unread abstracts
List of subscribed
magazines
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For changing names, unsubscribing, creating folders etc.
However, at the moment, your account looks pretty empty. Rather like that:
If you want to change that, you need to go looking for RSS feeds - and here
comes the complicated part...
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4. Subscribing to RSS feeds
In principle, it is very simple to subscribe to RSS feeds.
All you need to do is:
- click on the „add subscription“ button
- enter the URL of the
RSS feed you‘d like to
subscribe to
- click on „add“
Sounds simple, huh? So far, it is.
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Now go and put the web upside down looking for nice little URLs...
Well, I‘m not cruel or anything, so here is how you find RSS feeds:
This is the icon for RSS feeds. If you find it, you‘re half done.
The trick is finding it... Usually it is much smaller than that.
It is normally easiest to simply go to the website
of the journal you‘re interested in. Let‘s use
www.nature.com/nature as an example
Now, let‘s play a little
game – who‘s the first
to find the RSS
symbol?
Ah, there it is!
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If you click on the link, you can choose between the RSS feed
containing the current issue‘s table of content or the online publication
table of content
Click on the RSS feed you want
to subscribe to...
... and...
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...TADAAAH! Here‘s the RSS feed (usually the table of content including a
short abstract)
And here‘s what you were looking for: the magical URL!
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Now all that‘s left to do is go back to the beginning of this chapter (slide 9)
and copy-paste the URL into the „add subscription“ field.
Sounds complicated? Don‘t give up yet – remember you‘ll only have to do that
once per journal.
Plus, I‘m just too soft-hearted.
Yeah, I made an appendix with the RSS URLs of the most frequently read journals.
Do I have too much time or what?
Anyway, go on, you can happily copy-paste everything you want into your freshly opened Google account.
One day my altruism will ruin me.
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Maybe I should just delete slides 9 to 12...
Appendix I: Tipps and tricks
•Sometimes, one can‘t find the RSS sign; look out for
„RSS“ or „XML“ in an orange box, or simply the words
„RSS“ or „newsfeed“
•For some journals, it is necessary to go to „latest issue“ or
„current issue“ to find the RSS feed (e.g. For PNAS, „Trends
in...“ journals etc.)
•Still can‘t find the RSS feed? Well, maybe the journal doesn‘t have one...
(Although that‘s rare these days)
•It is very useful to change the names of the subscriptions (use the „manage
subscriptions“ button) when you can only read the first three words of „Science
14 Direct Publication: Current Opinion in Plant Biology“...
Appendix II: List of URLs
Journal
URL
Advances in botanical research
http://rss.sciencedirect.com/getMessage?registrationId=GEADGFADHKAEOEBFIEAKGJBMGHADKNEJIWCLJKEDJJ
American Naturalist, latest articles
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rss?jrnl=AN&type=pwr
American Naturalist, latest issue
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/rss?jrnl=AN&type=latestissue
Cell
http://www.cellpress.com/webfiles/feeds/rssfeed.cell.xml
Conservation biology
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFeed?mi=gkleh&ai=rx&jc=cbi&type=etoc&feed=rss
Current biology
http://www.cellpress.com/webfiles/feeds/rssfeed.curbio.xml
Current opinion in plant biology
http://rss.sciencedirect.com/getMessage?registrationId=HAHHHBHHIGHIPAIJJAHOHFJIICIOMBPHISJPKHHOOL
Development, current issue
http://dev.biologists.org/rss/current.xml
Development, recent issues
http://dev.biologists.org/rss/recent.xml
Developmental Biology
http://rss.sciencedirect.com/getMessage?registrationId=DGDBDHDBEMDCLGEDFGDIDLFCDIGGIPEFIYFJGJJEEJ
Ecological applications
http://www.esajournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-toc-rss&issn=1051-0761
EMBO journal
http://www.nature.com/emboj/journal/vaop/ncurrent/rss.rdf
Evolution
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFeed?mi=gkleh&ai=7pw29&jc=evo&type=etoc&feed=rss
Functional plant biology
http://www.publish.csiro.au/RSS_Feed/CSIRO_Publishing_Recent_FP.xml
Genes%Development, in advance
http://www.genesdev.org/rss/ahead.xml
Genes&Development, current issue
http://www.genesdev.org/rss/current.xml
Genetics, current issue
http://www.genetics.org/rss/current.xml
Genetics, recent issues
http://www.genetics.org/rss/recent.xml
Journal of applied ecology
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFeed?mi=gkleh&ai=t3&jc=jpe&type=etoc&feed=rss
Journal of chemical ecology
http://www.springerlink.com/content/104273/?sortorder=asc&export=rss
Journal of ecology
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFeed?mi=gkleh&ai=s0&jc=jec&type=etoc&feed=rss
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Journal
URL
Journal of experimental Botany, advance access
http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/rss/ahead.xml
Journal of experimental Botany, current issue
http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/rss/current.xml
Journal of experimental Botany, recent issues
http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/rss/recent.xml
Molecular cell
http://www.cellpress.com/webfiles/feeds/rssfeed.molcel.xml
Molecular ecology
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFeed?mi=gkleh&ai=u8&jc=mec&type=etoc&feed=rss
Molecular plant-microbe interactions
http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/action/showFeed?mi=lul&ai=rv&jc=mpmi&type=etoc&feed=rss
Nature biotechnology
http://www.nature.com/nbt/current_issue/rss/index.html
Nature cell biology
http://www.nature.com/ncb/current_issue/rss/index.html
Nature genetics
http://www.nature.com/ng/current_issue/rss/index.html
Nature, current issue
http://www.nature.com/nature/current_issue/rss/index.html
New Phytologist
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFeed?mi=gkleh&ai=zm&jc=nph&type=etoc&feed=rss
Oecologia
http://www.springerlink.com/content/100458/?sortorder=asc&export=rss
Oikos
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFeed?mi=gkleh&ai=1d0&jc=oik&type=etoc&feed=rss
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology
http://rss.sciencedirect.com/getMessage?registrationId=GEDFGFDFHKDGOEEGIEDMGJENHNGKKMD
OLWFNJKHILU
Physiologia plantarum
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFeed?mi=gkleh&ai=w6&jc=ppl&type=etoc&feed=rss
Plant cell, current issue
http://www.plantcell.org/rss/current.xml
Plant cell, recent issues
http://www.plantcell.org/rss/recent.xml
Plant molecular biology
http://www.springerlink.com/content/100330/?sortorder=asc&export=rss
Plant physiology, current issue
http://www.plantphysiol.org/rss/current.xml
Plant physiology, recent issues
http://www.plantphysiol.org/rss/recent.xml
Planta
http://www.springerlink.com/content/0032-0935?sortorder=asc&export=rss
Journal
URL
PLoS Biology, new articles
http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-rss&issn=1545-7885&type=new-articles
PLoS Biology, table of content
http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-rss&issn=1545-7885&type=toc-articles
PLoS Genetics, new articles
http://genetics.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-rss&issn=1553-7404&type=new-articles
PLoS Genetics, table of contents
http://genetics.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-rss&issn=1553-7404&type=toc-articles
PLoS ONE, all new articles
http://feeds.feedburner.com/plosone/PLoSONE
PLoS ONE, biochemistry
http://feeds.feedburner.com/plosone/Biochemistry
PLoS ONE, biophysics
http://feeds.feedburner.com/plosone/Biophysics
PLoS ONE, cell biology
http://feeds.feedburner.com/plosone/CellBiology
PLoS ONE, computational biology
http://feeds.feedburner.com/plosone/ComputationalBiology
PLoS ONE, developmental biology
http://feeds.feedburner.com/plosone/DevelopmentalBiology
PLoS ONE, ecology
http://feeds.feedburner.com/plosone/Ecology
PLoS ONE, evolutionary biology
http://feeds.feedburner.com/plosone/EvolutionaryBiology
PLoS ONE, molecular biology
http://feeds.feedburner.com/plosone/MolecularBiology
PNAS, current issue
http://www.pnas.org/rss/current.xml
PNAS, early edition
http://www.pnas.org/rss/ahead.xml
PNAS, recent issues
http://www.pnas.org/rss/recent.xml
Science, current issue
http://www.sciencemag.org/rss/current.xml
Scientific American, Biology
http://rss.sciam.com/ScientificAmerican-Biology
Scientific American, global feed
http://rss.sciam.com/ScientificAmerican-Global
Scientific American, Nature
http://rss.sciam.com/ScientificAmerican-Nature
The Plant journal
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFeed?mi=gkleh&ai=sx&jc=tpj&type=etoc&feed=rss
Trends in ecology and evolution
http://rss.sciencedirect.com/getMessage?registrationId=JACAJBCAKGCBRADCLACHJFEAKIHDODCERSEIMJCCJH
Trends in plant science
http://rss.sciencedirect.com/getMessage?registrationId=EEDFEFDFFKDGMEEHGEDMEJFIFJHMIKDNHWFNHIHIJC
Yeah, this is it. Finally.
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THE END