Dear ZEST members, Some of you may already know this, but in the interest of all I want to point out that you can read new posts on any ZEST group via their RSS-XML feeds, generously provided by Yahoo! Groups.
Go to the homepage of any group and you will find the feeds button. Alternatively, the feeds are here: http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCurrent/rss http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTEconomics/rss http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/rss http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/rss http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTAlternative/rss http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/rss http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/TalkZEST/rss These are not meant to be viewed in a web browser but in an RSS reader. You can use the online RSS reader Bloglines [www.bloglines.com]. But what is RSS? Here's what Rediff says: Cocktail parties and RSS feeds Hey, if you want to become an RSS feeds guru, or at least sound like one, here's enough gyan for the party this weekend… Isn't this about politics? No. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. RSS (really simple syndication) is a format for distributing and aggregating all kinds of content on the Web such as news links, headlines and summaries. It is a form of XML, which means that each piece of data - a headline, introduction or description - is coded separately. In this way, software will know exactly what to do with it. So, when you want information on Sachin Tendulkar, that's exactly what you'll get. Nothing more. Nothing less. What do Rediff RSS/XML feeds do? They gather information related to your areas of interest - movies, cricket, politics or breaking news - and deposit them all on your desktop. So, in effect, if you don't stop by the site, the headlines pretty much pay your PC a visit. How do I read these feeds? Once information about news items is in RSS format, RSS reader software can check for changes and updates. These headlines will appear on your screen with a summary. If you like what you see, you can always click through to the full copy on the Rediff site. Some free RSS readers are… 1. Feedreader: http://www.feedreader.com/ 2. BlogStreet Info Aggregator: http://rss.blogstreet.com 3. AmphetaDesk: http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/ 4. Wildgrape NewsDesk 1.1: http://www.wildgrape.net/ 5. Beaver: http://www31.brinkster.com/toolmaker 6. SharpReader: http://www.hutteman.com/weblog/2003/04/06-56.html 7. KlipFolio: http://www.serence.com/site.php 8. BlogExpress: http://blogexpress.com/ 9. RSSConnect: http://www.perfectxml.com/RSSConnect/ 10. Awasu Personal Edition: http://www.awasu.com/ I have the RSS reader. Now what? Now you need RSS feeds to read. Just like the ones Rediff has provided on this page. Each feed is just like the address of a Web page. All you need to do is use the 'subscribe' function of your RSS reader to start receiving updates from a particular feed. Makes sense. But what about XML? 'Extensible markup language', or XML, splits information (be it content or images) by markers like 'headlines', 'introductions', 'footnotes', or just about anything else, making it easier for computers to locate specific information using those markers. Let's say you're stuck in a library, with a million books. All you have is an author's name - 'Goldie', to help you find something on, for instance, breeding goldfish. After an hour of searching, all the card file yields is a book called 'Pure Goldie: The Life and Career of Goldie Hawn'. Pretty frustrating, yes? Now, what if someone were to read all the books, neatly marking all data and sorting it into everything from 'title' and 'author' to 'fishing' and 'breeding'? If this were to happen, you would find something on goldfish in approximately 0.005 seconds, wouldn't you? XML examines information online, fitting it into structures that can be called upon to give you exactly what you want. [source: http://in.rediff.com/push/rss.htm ] Yours sincerely, Shivam Vij on behalf of all ZEST moderators ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/pkgkPB/SOnJAA/Zx0JAA/yqIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Did you get this mail as a forward? Subscribe by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/join. Members are encouraged to post poetry, their own and others', respond critically to the poems circulated, and participate in discussions. Post via email at [email protected] OR online at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/post. ---theZESTcommunity-------------- [1] ZESTCurrent: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCurrent/ [2] ZESTEconomics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTEconomics/ [3] ZESTGlobal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/ [4] ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/ [5] ZESTPoets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/ [6] ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ [7] ZESTAlternative: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTAlternative/ [8] TalkZEST: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TalkZEST/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
