[PART-1 / 2] : Opt to Receive blog updates by 'RSS Feeds Syndication' or 'Mailbox Subscription' methods?

NOTE:- THIS POST HAS BEEN DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS BECAUSE OF ITS LONGER CONTENT, THIS BEING THE PART-1 (OF A TOTAL OF 2 PARTS) UNDER THIS POST MESSAGE.  PART-2 SHALL BE POSTED SUBSEQUENTLY ONCE THE ENTIRE MESSAGE IS COMPILED THEREIN.

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This is the crux of the question asked by at least twelve people (as per the last count we had while checking the mailbox over the weekend bygone)...

Dear Team BnM,

Please suggest  "How to Choose the right & apt method of receiving your blog's Updates? That is, by means of 'Email Subscription' method and/or by means of  'RSS Feeds' method?   Also, please guide what are RSS Feeds and how to be subscribe to them.  "

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Time and on since the time we have been publishing this blog and offering updates by means of 'Email Subscription' and 'RSS Feeds', and pursuant to the recent posts published here mentioning the useful information available through RSS Feed links at 'New Institute of Civil Engineering, UK' that appear on our blog as suggested study material, we have been receiving queries as what is the main difference between the two means of receiving updates, and what advantage one method has over the other.

Some of the interesting / intriguing queries and opinions shared by some our readers and visitors regarding the issue being:

Namrata S. asks: "I have subscribed to your updates by Email Subscription option since I don't know how to read RSS Feeds. Please tell me if I need to install some javascript code in my laptop in case I opt for RSS Feeds?"

Christa A. says: " 'm gonna nuts with this RSS thing... just don't know how to fix the damn thing. Wud appreciate if u guide me"

Ananda P.V. insists: "Hey Shelly, nice to have the weblinks to the NCE website's RSS links. They are useful. But, I must say I enjoy receiving updates directly in my inbox as I can read the selected stuff at my leisure and at any time of the day without having to open the web browser. RSS Feeds are OK, but they require internet connection to be ON so as to read the updates received by RSS Feed reader"

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Before going further, let us first explain what are RSS Feeds.

'RSS' stands for 'Really Simple Syndication' service which is a simplistic means of offering content feeds of a website or a blog or any electronic data server in XML format to visitors to this website.

Many web browsers support RSS feeds, saving the need for a separate piece of RSS reader software. In addition, RSS enabled browsers can detect relevant RSS feeds, adding them automatically if you wish to do so.

RSS reader applications work in the same way as RSS enabled browsers, but run on your PC or Mac as standalone software. If you prefer to read RSS feeds on the web, they can be added via many dashboard tools such as Google Reader, My Yahoo!, Bloglines, and a host of similar other services.

As Mark Nottingham puts it in his remarkable 'RSS Tutorial' webpage, available at under Creative Commons license:

RSS is an XML-based format that allows the syndication of lists of hyperlinks, along with other information, or metadata, that helps viewers decide whether they want to follow the link.
This allows peoples’ computers to fetch and understand the information, so that all of the lists they’re interested in can be tracked and personalized for them. It is a format that’s intended for use by computers on behalf of people, rather than being directly presented to them (like HTML).

We emphasize our readers (both web publishers as well as readers) to read this RSS Tutorial compiled and published by Mark as it will serve as a ready reference to you all understanding what is RSS syndication and how to use it.

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