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You may have noticed Web pages sprouting orange boxes with the initials RSS or XML and wondered what they'e for. These orange boxes indicate that the site offers RSS feeds, a fairly new tool to read Web content more quickly.

Depending on who you ask, RSS stands for either "Real Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary." Lately people are opting for simplicity and calling them "webfeeds."

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The Ledger's local news RSS webfeed viewed in the FeedDemon newsreader.

Why use them? One enthusiast notes that his RSS reader "enables me to keep up with my favorite sites in a fraction of the time it used to take to visit them each day."

When you check The Ledger's Web feeds, you'll see a list of headlines and summary paragraphs of our most recent articles. To read a full article, click on the headline and you're directed to the article on our Web site.

If you check several Web sites daily, you'll begin to appreciate the convenience of quickly checking for updates in one place.

How do I get them? Until recently, people had to download software called a news aggregator or newsreader to view RSS feeds. Check Lockergnome for a comprehensive list of news aggregators and background on RSS.

But now Web sites such as Bloglines simplify the process by aggregating the feeds for you within your Web browser.

Firefox, the favored Web browser of The Ledger Online news staff, includes a function called "live bookmarks" that lets users read RSS Webfeeds without leaving the browser. Firefox users can add extensions such as Sage for more options in how they read RSS feeds.

How do I subscribe to Ledger webfeeds? Click on one of the orange RSS buttons or section names above and follow the instructions for your particular news reader to subscribe to RSS feeds.

Don't worry about seeing a lot of Web code when you click on the link. The important thing is to get the address at the top of the Web browser into your RSS reader.

Can I read RSS in my handheld? RSS readers are available for handheld computers that connect to the Internet via cellphone connection or WiFi.

Those of us with a handheld that doesn't connect directly to the Internet can use the excellent http://laurens.typepad.com/sunrise/">Sunrise Desktop software in combination with a program called http://www.plkr.org/">Plucker to capture RSS feeds and sync them for reading on the handheld.

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