What Is RSS?

Depending on who you ask, RSS stands for either "Rich Site Summary" or "Really Simple Syndication." But no matter what it's called, RSS is a relatively new way to gain information from your favorite sites.

At the heart of the technology is special coding, called XML, that has been widely developed by the global online community over the past few years.

The XML code for RSS describes a new type of Web information called a "feed." Essentially, the feeds can contain a summary and links of the new content on a Web site or anything else a creator desires to share. A company may publish an RSS feed that contains news of its latest products, for example.

Anyone — an online surfer or another Web site — can pick up the RSS codes and with the appropriate Web software display the information automatically.

The concept is similar to how a newswire service operates: Information published by one news organization can be "syndicated" — picked up and displayed — by any other news organization.

Why Is This A Good Thing For Me?

For Moss Customers, the advantages of RSS are quite simple: It saves time and bandwidth.

Instead of remembering to visit the Moss web site to look for new products, sale announcements, web specials, etc., these are fed directly into your computer (or other device that are XML-compatible - like your cell phone, pager, or handheld computer). You can choose to have these feeds updated daily or at whatever interval you want.

The access process is nearly instantaneous - even with slower connections - as soon as you have internet access, you have your RSS feed.

More importantly, RSS gives you control over receiving information you want without revealing information about yourself. Unlike subscribing to an e-mail newsletter, you never have to give out your e-mail address with an RSS feed. Although, used in conjunction with our Moss E-News emails, RSS will allow you to be able to move ahead of the crowd to get the information that you most want when shopping with us - instantly.

How Do I Read Feeds?

First, you need a feed reader. If you have AOL, MyYahoo! or Google as your home page, you will already have a reader that you can use to easily add Moss Motors' RSS feed to. Also, most up-to-date browsers will have built-in RSS feeders that are as simple as just clicking a button.

Alternatively, you can perform a search for "RSS Feed Readers" in any major online search engine such as Google or Yahoo!. This will produce a bundle of software options — many of which are free or at little cost (we recommend sticking with the more popular free options through your Google, Yahoo!, or browser account).

Once you've obtained a feed reader (or located it in your MyYahoo! or Google home page), subscribing to an RSS feed is as simple as looking for the appropriate feed link.

Click the feed link you are interested in and your software will then automatically retrieve and display that site's latest information.

Another option is to go directly to the Moss RSS page - here. Then copy and paste the URL directly into the appropriate field within your feed reader.