Using Netvibes.com to read newsfeeds
To quote from their home page:
About
Netvibes.com is a custom made 
web 2.0 home page solution
This service is free and gives the user the ability :
- to create a personalized page with the content they like.
- to put together data feeds and services from web 2.0 with a very simple interface
- to access your page anytime and from any computer .
It is also possible to :
- browse, modify, and import your RSS feeds with our integrated RSS/ATOM feedreader. You can easily import an OPML file as well.
- to import, download and listen podcasts without any additional software
- to check your mail on one or many gmail account, to stick webnotes, weather and many more to come !
This how-to focuses on using NetVibes as an RSS/ATOM newsfeed reader. In order to use NetVibes, you will need to do the following steps.
- Visit netvibes.com and sign up for an account.
- Login to your account.
- Click the link near the top labeled "Add Content"
- Click the link labeled "Add a feed"
- Enter the URL of the RSS feed into the appropriate box.
That's it. Netvibes will retrieve the most recent 5-10 posts in the RSS feed and will format them so that you can read them in NetVibes.
Alternatives to Netvibes
There are a number of alternative news readers out there. There are “server-side” aggregators like:
http://www.newsisfree.com/,http://feedster.com , or
There are also client-side aggregators like Feedreader (http://www.feedreader.com/), RSSBandit for the PC, located at http://www.rssbandit.org/ or Vienna for the Mac located at http://www.opencommunity.co.uk/vienna2.php .
For additional client-side readers, see these lists:
Jeremy Wagstaff's list: http://loosewire.typepad.com/blog/2004/08/a_directory_of_.html
Lockergnome list (also includes some sample feeds and an overview of RSS): http://channels.lockergnome.com/rss/resources/articles/quickstart.phtml
Keep in mind that netvibes aspires to be more than just a news reader. In that sense, it is more like a portal page than a traditional news reader.
Importing an OPML file
- Importing an OPML file
OPML is the file format used for exchanging RSS subscriptions. That way, you can move your subscriptions from one newsreader to another with a minimum of trouble. I've made the OPML file from my sample set of feeds available below. You can import OPML files into Netvibes and other RSS readers. To import this file into Netvibes, right click on the file and save it to disk. Then log in to NetVibes. Click on "Add a Feed" and then select the OPML file and import it.
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This is an opml formatted version of the feeds from my legal feeds page in NetVibes. |