Using RSS feeds

What is a RSS feed?

Quoted from the Wikipedia page on which you will find more details. For your information, there are different RSS formats, such as ATOM and RDF, but for the sake of simplicity we will use the generic RSS term.

Instead of regularly visiting your favored websites to check for new articles, you just need to subscribe to the RSS feed to receive updates!
The time saving is huge: you only have to check your feed reader or aggregator for the newest articles. No need to visit websites updated on an irregular basis, you are automatically warned once there is something new!

How to use RSS feeds?

To use RSS feeds, you need an « aggregator ». There are plenty of solutions, depending on your needs and preferences:

• web browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer (from version 7) and most other modern browsers allow to subscribe to a feed.
• the default Firefox aggregator is not really handy, but the Sage extension greatly enhances things
• with a client software: feedreader, Lifearea, etc. Thunderbird (mail client) does allow it too.
• online: if you use more than a single computer, a solution may be to use an online feed reader: google reader (associated to the gmail account + various other services), netvibes (customizable homepage with modules (weather forecast, etc.) and RSS feeds), bloglines (similar google reader) ...

Many websites offer one or more RSS feeds, usually highlighted with the following RSS logo:
[img=picto/rss.png /] (on the website or in the browser's address bar). To subscribe, you only need to display the feed and add the address in you aggregator.

Use camptocamp.org RSS feeds

All this is interesting, but some practical examples would be nide to help understand all this!
You may have noticed the small RSS picto
[img=picto/rss.png /] available there and there on the website, among which on the homepage, and also in your browser's address bar? It allows you to display the RSS feed! You only need to add this address to your aggregator, or choose your aggregator in the drop-down list (at least on Firefox).

For example, for the last outings: http://www.camptocamp.org/outings/en/new.rss
the same for the last articles, last pictures, or last forum posts!

Event better: you wish to subscribe to the latest ice climbing outings in the Écrins (for example)? This is what offers the « camptocamp.org meta-search engine »!
Build your filter, and here is the result (to which you can subscribe!). Only current restriction: Montagneinfo.net outings are not associated to an area and are thus not displayed in this list...

The same goes for the forum, for which you can build a complete RSS feed (with all forums), a feed per forum, or a feed combining several forums, e.g. rock climbing and mountaineering:
http://www.camptocamp.org/forums/extern.php?type=rss&action=active&fid=59,60

Integrate an RSS feed into your website

You are the webmaster of a website and you wish to integrate a block with the list of the last camptocamp.org outings? Depending on the technical solution used in your website, there are several possibilities:

• the simplest one: the tools used to create a blog or another dynamic website often have an integrated «RSS feed reader».
• using an external tool: some websites offer «widgets» (usually some javascript code) that allow to integrate an RSS feed in your website. A restriction: the design of the widget may differ from the rest of your website, and you depend on the site that builds the widget.
• a more technical solution: use a script, e.g. a PP script with Magpie. An example of use.

Some RSS feed example to start with

In order to help you building your list of RSS feeds, here are some examples:

• UKClimbing.com news: http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/rss.php
• mountainproject.com: http://www.mountainproject.com/scripts/RSS.php?&action=showForm
• BBC news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3223484.stm
• (propose us some examples)