A little bit too much information?

Novelist Anthony Price once remarked that “The devil himself had probably redesigned Hell in the light of information he had gained from observing airport layouts.” Sometimes, that is the way I feel about the internet; the devil must be gleefully redesigning Hell because of it.

The amount of information available at our fingertips is mind-boggling. The internet is a wonderland; updated every single second of the day. News stories, blog posts, photos, gossip; all you ever want to know only a click away. But who hasn’t wasted an entire evening (or a dozen) jumping from website to website in a link-induced frenzy? Who likes Perez Hilton but is embarrassed to open his bright pink site at the office? Where people have eyes and can see? Who hasn’t found a blog whose writer leaves you giggling over your morning coffee but flying graphics and favourite music keep distracting you? Is there a way to get around all the madness?

Enter RSS.

RSS is the acronym for Rich Site Summary. In short, RSS is an aggregator that collects content from the internet and delivers it through syndication. But, enough tech talk. All you really need to know is that RSS feeds and RSS readers are pieces of internet organisation heaven. They turn that cluttered, distracting online world into a personalised and focused sanctuary.

Here’s how it works. You take what you want from the internet. Are you a gossip junkie? Or are you a news aficionado? Do you worship at the doorstep of Apartment Therapy? Or do you read countless of blogs in your niche area? Do you adore Running in Heels? (You should, we’re awesome!)

Whatever your fetish, you add your favourite sites to your RSS Reader. Your reader then meanders around the internet–on your behalf–collecting the most recent updates from your subscribed list. Then it delivers all of this to you on one, clean and crisp page. Let me repeat that because if your jaw didn’t just drop, you haven’t fully understood.

RSS allows you to read all your favourite, online content on one simple page.

And cue jaw dropping.

The wonderful Google Reader

RSS Feeds save time. You can read every post in your Reader without having to put up with ads or irrelevant content and busy website design. RSS is private. You no longer have to give out your email address to receive newsletters or the latest content. All you have to do is subscribe to the RSS Feed of the particular website through your Reader. It’s that simple. RSS is social. You can share posts, funny photos and interesting news items with everyone on your contact list.

There are several free RSS readers to pick and use. You can choose between web-based readers and desktop-based readers. Most readers offer similar functions. You can organize your content into folders. For example, I use six different categories for the 60 plus different websites and blogs I follow: News; Personal Blogs; Design Blogs; Fashion, Cooking and Miscellaneous.  Most readers will also recommend websites for you to follow based on your preferences. You can even use some readers on your mobile phone.

If you’re tired of opening twenty tabs every morning, if you’re constantly refreshing a blog hoping for an update, if you love lists, organisation and simplicity, you are already an RSS fan and you didn’t even know it!

To get you started, Running in Heels recommends:

Google Reader (Web-based reader for all users)

FeedDemon (Desktop-based reader for Windows users)

NetNewsWire (Desktop-based reader for Mac users)