I'm going to veer from talking about painting for this blog, but before you click away to something more ....... visually appealing, let me tell you how you can get an advantage to seeing your favorite artists work before almost anyone else. If you are a collector, you know what a blessing that can be. We've all gone to a favorite artist or gallery website to check on whether there are any new works available by them. And there it is, that one special painting that will haunt you if you don't have it. It's THE one, only to see that it has been sold already. It wasn't even there the last time you checked in? It was only a few days since you checked it, but in the art world, sometimes a few days is a couple of days too late. But who has time every day to jump to their artist's site to check if any new work has been posted. Well now RSS feeds can put you in control. Before I tell you how you can easily set up this feature, let me take a moment to talk about the what question first.
What are RSS feeds? Perhaps you've seen text or
image buttons on various websites inviting you to "subscribe via RSS."
Well, what does that mean exactly? What is RSS, what are RSS feeds, and
how do you get them to work for you?
Answer
It's short for "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", this handy service is revolutionizing the way we search for content. There's nothing complicated about RSS; just think of it as a way that websites come to you, the reader, with their content, instead of you having to check up on them. Every time content is updated by your chosen website, a "feed" is activated, and then you can view these "feeds" (it's just a fancy way of saying content) in a Feed Reader. It's kind of like subscribing to a newspaper. Website feeds get delivered to you in your RSS reader, and you get to read them (We'll get
to Feed Readers in just a minute!).
RSS feeds benefit artists like me too, since I can get my new work and new blogs to eager subscribers, like you, fast, by submitting feeds to various RSS directories (such as Google Reader).
What does this mean for you? Sure, that sounds interesting, but why is it for me?
Answer
Simply put, it means that you are in control and informed about any new paintings that are loaded. Also, if you RSS subscribe to my blog (musings), you will know as soon as I put up an new post of my ramblings ( I usually do talk about art, honest). When I post it, you'll know it. Simple as that. OK, says you, I'm an artformation junkie and that sounds like it's for me. What do I do next? Luckily that's simple too. Let's talk about RSS readers.
What Are RSS Readers? What are RSS Readers, how do they play into this, and do I need one?
Answer
Basically, RSS Readers are the programs used to view your RSS feed subscriptions. In other words, it's a way to clump all your RSS feeds from various websites, like all your favorite artists, into one handy dandy little interface. For example, the web browser I use is Firefox and when I subscribe to a RSS feed, it automatically shows up in my bookmark menu. Most people however, use a different browser, and don't have that available to them, so they have to use a stand alone program. There are many Readers available out there, some better than others. To make this really simple I'll use Google Reader as an example, since it's the one I'm most familiar with, though there are many readers available. I like Google Reader, because there is nothing to download and best of all, it's FREE!
To be able use Google Reader, you'll need a Google account. Easy enough to set up, just answer a few questions and you have your account. Once you've signed in, you can access all the other nifty Google services such as Froogle, GMail. Here is a quick and easy link you can use to sign up at Google to begin using your Google Reader.
Google Account sign up.
Once you have your account, you can begin using your Reader to access all those websites that have feeds which sound interesting to you. You will find the reader on Google's main page under the "more" menu bar. By the way, RSS feeds are great for your favorite news sites too. Now
you can be the one to announce to the rest of the office that Paris was arrested again, or that there's a rumor that Britney was seen coming out of Chuck E Cheese in Boca Raton. Imagine the possiblilities! While you're at it, don't forget to add your favorite artist's sites.
Enjoy, Steve
...what do you mean Britney's lawyers are on the phone? I didn't start that rumor.
