SoftCom Corporate Blog

More and more, we’re seeing a shift in the way that people communicate on the internet. Here at SoftCom we’ve decided to make the leap and move from sending periodic email newsletters to more frequent blog posts. This allows us to get more detailed about any subject, and it allows you, the reader, to decide when and how you want to read that content. With many blogs comes a feature known as RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. And although it is becoming fairly common, we wanted to take some time to explain to you how you can use this to keep up to date with our blog.

1. From your BrowserSome browsers, such as Firefox and Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox include features which allow you to add RSS feeds in your Favorites or Bookmarks. When you are on a website that has an RSS Feed, you’ll see an icon like this in your browser’s Address field or one of your Toolbars.   This is usually an indication that you can add the Feed to your Favorites or Bookmarks. For IE7 users, clicking on this button will allow you to add the RSS Feed to your “Feeds” Favorite Folder which will then be accessible from your Favorites Center (Alt+C). For Firefox users, clicking on the icon will allow you to create a “Live Bookmark”, which you can place anywhere in your Bookmarks, including your Bookmarks Toolbar Folder.
2. Using a RSS Reader or News AggregatorThere are basically two different types of RSS Readers: the kind that you install on your computer, and the kind that you use from the web - and there are advantages to both. With a web-based RSS reader, you can read your subscriptions for any computer that is connected to the internet.  With a software-based RSS reader, you can download your RSS Feed updates and read them when you’re offline. We have subscription buttons for some of the most popular online RSS Readers on the right-side of this blog, which include Bloglines, Google Reader and NewsGator. Some popular RSS Readers include FeedDemon, FeedReader and RssReader. There are literally hundreds out there for you to choose from.
3. Customizable Portal PagesThese types of services, like My MSN, My Yahoo and My AOL, allow you to add custom content on your page including RSS feeds. For your convenience, we’ve added buttons for the most popular portal pages on the left side of the page. These websites differ from RSS Readers in that they usually display more than just RSS Feeds, and any RSS Feeds you do add will be displayed inline with your other content.

We hope that you take this opportunity to explore our blog and subscribe to our RSS Feed, using whatever method you prefer most. We’ll do our best to keep this blog updated with the latest news and information that is both relevant to the services we offer, and to your needs.

Sincerely,

Tim Attwood
Product Manager
SoftCom Technology Consulting Inc.