The following page is a brief introduction into RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and how it has been used within our site to make your browsing experience easier and to keep you up-to-date about areas of interest.

• What are RSS feeds?
• How do I use RSS feeds?
• Where do I get a news reader?
• What RSS feeds do Newcastle City Council supply?

What are RSS feeds?

RSS is a web technology that allows you to see at a glance what areas of our site have been updated, without you having to visit our site. An RSS feed is basically a webpage that is designed to be read by a computer program instead of a person.

Go to Top

How do I use RSS feeds?

RSS feeds are used in conjunction with a news reader.

News readers are software applications that can take an RSS feed and turn it into content that you can read.  There are many different versions of news readers; some are available through a web browser interface, allowing you to check your feeds from anywhere in the world, whilst others are software applications that need to be downloaded and installed to your computer.

Once you have chosen your news reader you need to add your feeds to it. 

Our RSS feeds are based around the main sections of our website. Where RSS feeds are available an icon will be shown  

For example, if you are interested in Education and especially in the area of Grants, you might want to subscribe to the Grants RSS feed. After subscribing to the feed any new document or updates to pages in the Grants section will be brought to your attention.

Alternatively you can subscribe to the Education feed and receive updates from the whole Education area.

To subscribe to a feed do one of the following.

• Click and drag the link next to RSS logo  into your News Reader.
• Drag the URL of the RSS feed into your News Reader
• Cut and paste the URL of the RSS feed into your News Reader

Go to Top

Where do I get a news reader?

There is a vast number of RSS news readers available with new applications being added all the time. Below is list of some news readers to get you started. 

Please be aware that the news readers below are for particular operating systems; please choose the correct application for your operating system.

• Newz Crawler (Windows)
• FeedDemon (Windows)
• Awasu (Windows)
• Newsfire (Mac OS X)
• NetNewsWire (Mac OS X)
• Bloglines (Web based)
• NewsGator (Web based)
• Microsoft Live (Web based)
• Google - Personalised Home (Web based)
• Mozilla Firefox (Integrated into web browser)

Go to Top

What RSS feeds do Newcastle City Council supply?

All of the main sections and sub-sections within the Newcastle City Council website have RSS feeds. In addition to these some specicalised areas of the site also have RSS feeds. For a full list of available feeds please visit the RSS Directory.