Realy Simple Syndication (RSS)

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a way that website authors can provide metadata about their sites to software programs called "aggregators". An RSS feed contains a list of the most recently modified pages on a website. Content authors update the RSS feed whenever they add, remove, or change pages. For more info, check the wikipedia article on RSS (file format)

RSS Aggregators are software programs your on your PC that contain a list of RSS feeds you are interested in tracking. The Aggregator polls the feed based on some reasonable interval you provide. This can be as often as a few times an hour for busy news sites, once a day for sites that update content often, and once a week for fairly static sites that do not have frequent updates. We have provided an RSS feed for the Carolina Dunes website so that you do not have to frequently re-visit the site just to check for updates.

To use the RSS feed you'll need to download an RSS Aggregator. Mozilla Thunderbird is a mail client available on Windows, OSX, and Linux that includes an RSS Aggregator. If you use OSX we highly recommend Vienna. After downloading an aggregator, copy the link to the RSS feed, and paste it into your aggregator. The online help for your aggregator will contain more information on where to paste the link to the RSS feed.

After you have installed your RSS Aggregator and added a link to the Carolina Dunes RSS feed you will not need to check back for updates on a regular basis. Your RSS Aggregator will perform the check for you, and notify you when site updates occur. When site updates occur you'll receive a brief description of the update, as well as a link to the full content that was posted. Using an RSS Aggregator will allow you to avoid the laborious task of scanning the entire website for updates, and you'll be able to just examine the site when the content changes.