If you have this blog in your bookmarks in Firefox or Internet Explorer, and you check it from time to time, DON’T do that.  That’s not because I don’t want you to read it, it’s just that there are two better ways to get news from this blog and just about every other blog and many websites.

The best way is to subscribe by RSS — which is easy to do and explained below — but you can also subscribe by email just by filling in your email address.  Then you’ll get an email with a link to the blog every time there is a new post.  Both these options are midway down the left side of the blog, and look like the image at the right.  Just put your email address in the box.

But if there are number of blogs and websites that you mean to check regularly  — but sometimes forget to check — the much better route is to use RSS feeds in an "aggregator" or "reader."  A reader is like a personalized newspaper that shows you a the title of posts from each of the blogs to which you subscribe, along with the first several words of the post. The image at the top of this post is from the aggregator I use, which is Google Reader. 

If you have this blog and other blogs or websites that you look at frequently set up in an aggregator, you just click on a particular entry if you want to read it, without ever having to check the website in the first place.

To set this up, just click on the orange RSS icon which is on the left side of this blog (or wherever it is on any blog or website).  It looks like the image at the right, but smaller.  Then select the aggregator that you are using or want to use, and can subscribe. You’ll have several different options. 

If you pick Google Reader, but don’t have an account set up on Google yet, it will walk you through that in about 20 seconds.  There’s also an option to add blogs to your Google home page if you prefer that.  No more remembering — or forgetting — to check. RSS, by the way, stands for "really simple syndication."

Here’s a one-minute video that explains the concept and how to use Google Reader.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=VSPZ2Uu_X3Y%26hl%3Den%26fs%3D1