Live Bookmarks–RSS In Firefox

Bringing RSS content into your bookmarks, dynamically.

Of the major browsers, Firefox seems to have little, if any, obvious support for syndicated feeds–commonly known as RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, the XML file format that provides many avid web surfers with dynamically updated content.

As with many applications, however, it’s just a matter of terminology. Firefox does support RSS feeds but calls them Live Bookmarks. They have their pluses and minuses, but exist as a standard feature in Firefox, requiring no add-ons or plugins, and has the benefit of being simple to create and administer. Here’s how you approach them.

Identifying Sites that Supply Feeds

The first step in implementing a site RSS feed as a Live Bookmark in Firefox involves knowing whether or not the site you’ve loaded actually has one. In many cases, Firefox will tell you. If the current version detects a feed, the orange RSS icon will appear on the far right end of the location box, next to the pulldown arrow (in versions 1.0.x, the RSS icon appeared in the lower corner of the browser):

Firefox has found a RSS feed associated with my blog; the icon gives it away (click to enlarge)

Adding the Feed

To add my blog’s feed to your Firefox browser as a live bookmark, do the following:

• Click on the RSS feed icon. This will deploy a sheet which allows you to specify where you want the bookmark saved. You can either use the simple dropdown or click the down-arrow button next to the dropdown to open a folder navigation display.
• Navigate to the bookmark folder you want the Live Bookmark saved in. If you want to create a new folder for storing them, you can do this with the New Folder… button. When you’ve decided on where you want this stored, clicking Add will commit the choice.

Navigating to the folder we want to save this Live Bookmark into.

Sometimes a site you frequent will have RSS feeds but Firefox won’t see them. You’ll know they’re there because many sites that supply syndication will say so, oftentimes with the RSS or XML badge, or a simple textual link. In the case where Firefox doesn’t detect the feed, here’s how you add the feet to Firefox manually:

• Right-click (or control-click) on the feed icon or link, then copy the link to the Clipboard.
• From the Menu Bar, do Bookmarks>Manage Bookmarks…. The Bookmark Manager will open.
• In the Bookmark Manager, from the Menu Bar, do File>Add Live Bookmark….
• Fill in the dropdown sheet when it appears: Give your Live Bookmark a name, paste in the feed URL in the next box, and add a description (which is optional)
• Once okayed, the Live Bookmark will appear in the Bookmark Manager’s sidebar. In the main listing pane, the Live Bookmark can be drug and dropped anywhere in the list you want it to appear

Reading and Managing Live Bookmarks

Naturally, the one reason any web surfer and information junkie would subscribe to an RSS feed is to read it. Since it obeys the general paradigm of the book mark, you use a Live Bookmark just like a regular one.

In my case, I stowed my LB for The Zehnkatzen Times in a folder on the Toolbar I called Live Bookmarks (descriptive titles, always!) that I created to keep all my future LBs in for quick retrieval. When I clicked on that toolbar folder, here’s what I found:

A Live Bookmark displaying its contents (click to enlarge)

The content of a Live Bookmark can be quickly identfied by the distinctive icon, which combines the icon for a document with the “ripple” symbol from the RSS icon. Clicking any of these post titles will open the post in your browser window.

Live Bookmarks are managed as regular bookmarks are also, and can also be read, from the Bookmark Manager. They obey the same basic physical laws that other bookmarks do: they can be moved about, sorted into different folders, and even deleted just like any other bookmark, and clicking on any LB in the Manager display will also cause them to open up in the browser.

Pluses and Minuses

Live Bookmarks are a good way to quickly add RSS content to your browsing experience in Firefox. They are rather a basic implementation, however.

On the plus side:

• They are quick to implement and simple to install.
• They require little technical knowhow outside of basic browser usage knowledge.
• They are easy to use and easy to manage.
• They understand RSS, RDF, and ATOM formats, the most common ones you’re likely to find in the current version.

The quickness and convenience seem to come at a price, however. On the minus side:

• LB does not support OPML feeds.
• LBs provide post titles only; they don’t provide previews or summaries.
• They don’t provide email links (such as available under Wizz Reader, as an example).
• The posts can’t be marked as read/unread, or screened in any way.
• There is very little customization.

Live Bookmarks may not be the power-users way to go at the present time, but their quickness and usability makes them accessable by, pretty much, everyone. Requiring no extra installation, they can significantly enhance the browsing experience of the basic web surfer and info gourmet (and gourmand).

(Thanks to tipster Ross Chrystall for the suggestion that led to this article)

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