🔗 It's Probably WordPress • Chris McLeod's blog

In the world of information overload, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds allow you to stay updated with your favorite websites and content creators without getting lost in the noise of social media. But what if you want to find the RSS feed for a particular site or profile that doesn't have an obvious link? Here are some tricks to follow:

but if I come across a website that doesn’t explicitly advertise an RSS feed, I try appending /feed/ to the domain^[1]. For example https://example.com/feed/. A lot of the time - possibly the majority in the last few years - this returns an RSS feed.

https://chrismcleod.dev/blog/its-probably-wordpress/

Why does this work? Because, for better or worse, it’s probably WordPress under the hood. WordPress is reckoned to power over 40% of all websites. WordPress exposes the default feed on the /feed/ path^[2].

https://chrismcleod.dev/blog/its-probably-wordpress/

This also works on Substacks.

If you use an RSS reader like NetNewsWire, you can harness the power of its NetNewsWire extension in your browser. This extension has a feed-detecting superpower, sniffing out RSS feeds wherever they may hide. Just browse to the website or profile you're interested in, and if there's a feed lurking in the shadows, the extension will reveal it to you.

Mastodon users rejoice: add .rss to the public profile URL. For example https://mastodon.social/@gurupanguji.rss

YouTube, the land of cat videos and makeup tutorials, also offers RSS feeds, but they can be a bit trickier to track down. Why? Because you need to know the channel ID. But fear not, most RSS readers are clever enough to parse the source code of a YouTube page and uncover its hidden RSS feed.

Simply copy the channel's YouTube URL, paste it into your RSS reader, and voilà! The feed will appear like magic. Here's a fun example to try: https://www.youtube.com/@JustJoshTech. Paste this URL into your RSS reader, and you'll be treated to a stream of Just Josh Tech's latest videos, delivered straight to your feed reader. How cool is that?

The key to unlocking the Indie web is RSS feeds. Once you're subscribed to a few RSS feeds, you'll start to see a whole new side of the internet. You'll discover independent writers, artists, and musicians who are creating amazing content that you might have missed relying on a feed.

While you're at it, you can also subscribe to this site's feed via https://gurupanguji.com/feed/. Enjoy! And thanks for subscribing.