When a blog site says "click here to subscribe to the feed", what does that mean? Posts come to your email?

Answer 1

No, it means to add a subscription to a rss reader (a.k.a. rss aggregator). RSS stands for "really simple syndication." A RSS feed is a collection of titles and a short summary for each title. It is a convenient way to browse the content of a blog without actually going to their sites to read the articles. In order to subscribet to a feed, you need a feed reader. Feed readers are small programs which can download and display rss feeds. You can use the reader to organize, sort, tag, save...etc your feeds. RSS readers come in 2 flavors. The first kind is web browser-based, like Internet Explorer or Firefox. The second kind does not need a web browser; instead, it is an indepentent program that allows you to download feeds directly to your desktop for both online and offline viewing. Here are some of the more popular rss readers:

Integrated with Web Browser:
1. IE 7 has a built in rss reader
2. Firefox's sage extension
3. Google Reader
4. Blogline
5. Netvibes

Independent rss readers:
1. RSSOwl
2. Newsgator
3. Feed Demon