Just Another Jim

RSS Help

RSS (Real Simple Syndication)

I've added an RSS feed to keep interested readers abreast of new posts to the JAJ web site. Those who set up the RSS feed will be informed when any new essay or poem is posted on the JAJ site.

If you're on top of this stuff, the URL for the RSS feed is
http://www.justanotherjim.com/writingrss.xml
(Warning! If you try to view this file in Firefox or Explorer, it will look pretty funky--although it won't hurt anything. It's designed to be a feed and not a file that one actually views with a browswer.)

Put the RSS Feed in your Firefox Bookmarks or directly on the Bookmarks Toolbar

If you use the Firefox browser, you can add the RSS feed directly to your Bookmarks (also called the favorites list). If you use Explorer or Opera, I think you're out of luck. You see, Netscape (the company that developed the Mozilla kernal) invented RSS and so it works seamlessly in the browser. Cool!

1. Go to the Writing page.
2. On the Writing page you will find the RSS icon (an orange broadcast symbol) on the bottom tool bar.
3. Click on the icon to add the RSS feed to your Bookmarks.

It turns out you don't use the Firefox browser, but you're still interested in RSS. Many personalizable atart pages such as My Yahoo! and My MSN also support RSS. I have found that there is typically a time lag of a couple of hours to several days between when the RSS feed is posted and when it actually shows up on the start pages. But that's the price of not using Firefox! Follow the directions for how to add an RSS feed on your start page help section. If you use My Yahoo! or My MSN the directions are below.

Adding an RSS Feed on My Yahoo!

So you want to add the JAJ RSS feed to your My Yahoo! page. Here's how you do it.

1. Click the "Add Content" Button at the top of the page (or bottom of the column) where you want to add this feed
2. Click the "Add RSS by URL" sentence beside the "FIND" button to the right of the "Find Content" section.
3. Copy and paste the following URL in the dialog box: http://www.justanotherjim.com/writingrss.xml
4. Click the "ADD" button
5. This will bring up the title and description of the Just Another Jim RSS feed. At the top of this page is a yellow button that says "ADD TO MY YAHOO!" Click that button and you're good to go. When you return to your home page you should find an item that says "Just Another Jim Essays and Poems" and a list of recent additions below the header.

Adding an RSS Feed on My MSN

So you want to add the JAJ RSS feed to your My MSN page, here's how you do it:

1. Click the "Add Content" Button at the top of the page where you want to add this feed
2. Copy and paste the following URL into the Search dialog box: http://www.justanotherjim.com/writingrss.xml
3. Click the green arrow beside the search dialog box.
4. When the page refreshes, click the checkbox beside the "Just Another Jim Essays and Poems" Item and then click "OK"
5. NOTE: At the time of this posting the MSN RSS feed is still in beta, so it's a bit clunky and might not work perfectly. If you have problems, drop me a line. Better yet, get a real home page over at Yahoo.

Using Newsreaders and RSS Aggregators

There are several freeware and open source newsreaders and RSS readers available. I've tried a program called Pluck that works as a sidebar on your browser. I've found this feed to be down quite a bit of time. AmphetaDesk, in spite of the name and domain, is actually a very good aggregator and the one that I prefer. Pluck updates automatically (when it's working) while AmphetaDesk requires a manual update. Do a web search for "rss aggregator" to find other programs.

The rss feed address that you will need for an aggregator is
http://www.justanotherjim.com/writingrss.xml
(Warning! If you try to view this file in Firefox or Explorer, it will look pretty funky--although it won't hurt anything. It's designed to be a feed and not a file that one actually views with a browswer.)