News/Blog Feeds

Reading a News Feed in Thunderbird

Thunderbird mail software (mozilla.org) lets you view RSS content as easily as reading email.

Thunderbird normally displays 3 panes on the screen. The first displays your email accounts (each with an "inbox" and other folders), followed by RSS news accounts and subscribed feeds, and last, news accounts with subscribed newsgroups. The second pane shows subjects or titles, and the third displayed the selected messages or articles.

How to create an RSS account

1. File menu > New > Account
2. Select RSS news & blogs. Click Next.
3. Type a name for your new account i.e. "News Feeds"
4. Click Finish

Your new RSS account should now be listed in your account pane (normally on the left side of the screen).

Adding a news or blog feed:

1. Click on RSS Feeds in the folders pane.
2. Click on the Manage Subscriptions
3. Go to Tools > Account Settings, and select the account name in the left-hand pane.
4. Select the Manage Subscriptions button.
5. Click the Add button, then type (paste) the URL for the news feed into the box.
6. Check the show article summary option.
7. Click OK

The URL will be verified and added to the account. You can add more feeds under this RSS account, or you may create more than one RSS account, each with multiple subscribed feeds. It's easy to remove any of them.

In the RSS news accounts, the article is not downloaded or displayed until you select it for viewing, similar to reading newsgroups and IMAP mail. (POP mail accounts automatically download all emails and store them on your computer hard drive.)

If you use a slow connection to the Internet, you can block download of images in Thunderbird.   Tools menu > Options > Privacy > General > Load images

RSS basics for Thunderbird

Firefox "Live Bookmarks"

The Firefox browser offers access to RSS feeds through another option called Live Bookmarks (mozilla.org).

Firefox Live Bookmarks (mozilla.org) are an easy way to check news feeds.

1. Jump to our "Boating in Canada News" blog.
2. You will see a small orange feed icon in the Firefox URL bar. Click the icon (select RSS feed)
3. In the window that appears, select a location to put your "live bookmark" called "Boating in Canada News". Place it somewhere easy to check (Personal Toolbar).
4. Select the "Live bookmark" to view a "fly-out" list of article titles!
5. Select one to display the article.

News feed URL for Boating in Canada News Blog: https://boatingincanada.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/full

List of CBC News Feeds (www.cbc.ca/rss)

How to Subscribe to or Read ATOM and RSS Site Feeds