Broad Side of the Barn

Find a Feed. In the picture below locate the orange square on the fourth line, fourth icon from the right. To the left is the “Home” button. To the right is the “Print” button. Got it? If a feed exists for this site, the button will be orange. If there is no feed for this site, the button will be grey.

Figure 1: Typical page with a feed.

When you click on the orange button the PAGE ITSELF will change and look something like this: It’s the top yellow rectangle you want to pay attention to. At the bottom left of the rectangle is a phrase: “Subscribe to this feed.” Just click on it.

Figure 2: After clicking on the orange RSS Feed button

Internet Explorer will pop up a little box in the middle of the screen like this:

Figure 3: Subscribing to a feed

Just click “Subscribe” and the page will reflect that you have done so. Now take a look at the top of Internet Explorer again. See the yellow star on the fourth line (typically)? Just click on the star and you will see a list of your feeds:

Figure 4: Feed list showing boldface “unread” blogs

This example shows most of the McCain blogs. Notice at the top of the list are three choices: Favorites, Feeds, and History. If you are not already on “Feeds” you’ll need to click on that choice. In this example you see several of the listings in boldfaced type. This means they have been updated since you read them last. For quick updating you should set this for 15 minute updates. To do this click on TOOLS, then INTERNET OPTIONS, then on CONTENT. Your screen should look something like this:

Figure 5: Tools->Internet Options->Content

At the bottom is FEEDS. Just click on the SETTINGS button to see this:

Figure 6: Change to 15 minute increments

You can se your options here. Be sure “Automatically check feeds for updates” is checked, then use the drop down box to set it for “15 minutes.” Advanced options can be helpful, particularly the one that says “Automatically mark feed as read.” This saves you the trouble of an extra step. “Feed Reading View” can be helpful as well. It allows you to explore the blog more easily. If you keep it off you can only read the updated post and nothing else. You can experiment with what you like best.

I just downloaded Mozilla and will try to figure out how to do the same thing in that browser as well.

2. You can add a John McCain banner to your FeedBurner feed with these
steps:

A. From your FeedBurner dashboard, click on the Optimize tab.
B. Click on Feed Image Burner on the left-hand side of the page.
C. In the Image Source dropdown that appears, select "Specify custom image
URL"
D. Here are a few image URLs you might consider:

http://www.johnmccain.com//images/mccain_banner_150x100.jpg (the
black-and-white McCain logo)
http://www.johnmccain.com/images/downloads/mccain_gmail1.gif (a smaller
blue one)

E. Add an image title, such as "I support John McCain" and a link to his
website.
F. Scroll down and click "Activate" or "Save"

3. I have made a series of John McCain FeedFlares that you can add to your
feed. FeedFlares are text/links that FeedBurner automatically appends to the
end of each item in your feed. It makes it easier for people who read your
blog in a reader or through email subscriptions to interact with your
content. Here's what to do:

A. From your FeedBurner dashboard, click on the Optimize tab.
B. Click on FeedFlare on the left-hand side of the page.
C. Scroll down to the field that says "(Enter or paste a Flare Unit URL)"
and type in one of the following:

To add "John McCain for President of the United States of America 2008"
with link to his site:
http://www.agkyra.com/mccainflare1.xml

To add "John McCain for President" with a link to his site:
http://www.agkyra.com/mccainflare2.xml

To add "I Support John McCain for President" with a link to his site:
http://www.agkyra.com/mccainflare3.xml

To add "I Support John McCain" with a link to his site:
http://www.agkyra.com/mccainflare4.xml

To add "I Support John McCain" with a link to the CONTRIBUTION PAGE. The
link is the same one from the Contribution buttons from MV08.
http://www.agkyra.com/mccainflare5.xml

To add "John McCain for President: Please Contribute Now!" with a link to
the CONTRIBUTION PAGE. Also the MV08 contribution code.
http://www.agkyra.com/mccainflare6.xml

To add "Join McCain Victory 2008!" with a link to
http://mccain08olc.blogspot.com/
http://www.agkyra.com/mccainflare7.xml

D. Click "Add New Flare"
E. Click the checkbox in the leftmost column next to the flare. This adds
the flare to your feed.
F. Scroll down and click "Activate" or "Save"