RSS Feed (Really Simple Syndication)

What is RSS?

In a world heaving under the weight of billions of web pages, keeping up to date with the information you want can be a drag.

Wouldn't it be better to have the latest news and features delivered directly to you, rather than clicking from site to site?

Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows you to see when sites from all over the internet have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and articles (or even audio files, photographs or video) in one place, as soon as they are published, without having to remember to visit each site every day.

RSS takes the hassle out of staying up-to-date, by showing you the very latest information that you are interested in.

RSS feeds are just a special kind of web page, designed to be read by computers rather than people. It might help to think of them as the free, internet version of the old-fashioned ticker-tape news wire machines.

Not all websites currently provide RSS and not all sections of the BBC or BBC Sport website are available as feeds.

How do I start using RSS feeds?

In general, the first thing you need is something called a news reader.

This is a piece of software that checks RSS feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added to them. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications. Browser-based news readers let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from any computer, whereas downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer, in the same way that you either download your e-mail using Outlook, or keep it on a web-based service like Hotmail.

Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want to receive in your news reader, by finding and subscribing to the relevant RSS feeds. For example, if you would like the latest BBC Sport Cricket stories, simply visit the Cricket section and you will notice an orange RSS button.

Most modern browsers, including Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Safari and Chrome, automatically check for RSS feeds for you when you visit a website, and display the orange RSS icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to RSS feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites.

How do I get a news reader?

There is a range of different news readers available and new versions are appearing all the time.

Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer.

Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want it to receive.

If you click on the RSS button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader.

Using BBC Sport RSS feeds on your site

If you run your own website, you can use RSS feeds to display the latest headlines from other sites on your site.

We encourage the use of BBC Sport RSS feeds as part of a website, subject to our Terms of Use.

However, we do require that the proper format and attribution is used when BBC Sport content appears. The attribution text should read "BBC Sport" or "From BBC Sport" as appropriate. You may not use any BBC logo or other BBC trademark.

We reserve the right to prevent the distribution of BBC Sport content. Please read our Terms of Use for further instructions.

The BBC does not accept any liability for its RSS feeds. Please see the Terms of Use for full details.