I love the open web, and by extension, I love what RSS stands for: Really Simple Syndication freedom.
To put it simply, RSS allows you to synthesise everything into a single feed. Lets say you enjoyed reading a blog post and want to see more in the future, you would add their RSS feed, like parsam.io/rss.xml (great guy), and see future posts.
The beauty is that it’s a standard format, so you have complete freedom to use whatever RSS client you want to read it. Your subscriptions don’t need to be tied to an account, it could literally just be a list of links you keep handy to port between different clients.
The unfortunate reality is that most people (even outside of the typical tech circles) don’t even know what it is in the first place, and I hope to change your mind on that.
The algorithms that power the big social media platforms are so strong it could practically one shot you in a few hours of interaction. But with RSS, there’s none of that. Just pure signal.
In pursuit of being intentional with what I consume on my devices, RSS feeds fit perfectly in that criteria.
I prefer tapping into the noise myself, from the sources I trust and enjoy reading.
I can recommend these readers, but there are a myriad of options if you do some searching:
- iOS/macOS: NetNewsWire - I use this daily (pictured above), it brings me so much joy with how simple it is. Plus it’s open source!
- Android: github.com/ReadYouApp/ReadYou - when I was testing pre-released Pixel devices I was using this, also open source!
- Web/cross-platform:
These are just some of the blogs I’m subscribed to you, if you’re interested in the same stuff as me then it might be helpful to get you started:
- Armin Ronacher - (feed)
- Daring Fireball - (feed)
- David Heinemeier Hansson - (feed)
- Derek Sivers - (feed)
- Die, Workwear! - (feed)
- Herman Martinus - (feed)
- Tom MacWright - (feed)
- Manuel Moreale - (feed)
- Mitchell Hashimoto - (feed)
- Register Spill by Thorsten Ball - (feed)
- Simon Willison - (feed)
- Stepan Parunashvili - (feed)
- Steph Ango - (feed)
- Young Money by Jack Raines - (feed)
- マリウス - (feed)
Have a favourite Substack you’re subscribed to? No problem, just append /feed
to the URL.
Recommended reading:
- Not just what you read but how - David Heinemeier Hansson
- Why I Still Use RSS - Marc
- What RSS Needs - Mark Nottingham
- The Proprietary Syndication Formats - Chris Coyier