HOWTO: use Firefox and Sage to read weblogs
This is a brief step-by-step guide to setting up Firefox and Sage so that you can subscribe to blogs such as this one, and easily check if they have been updated.
Firstly, download Firefox - this is a free alternative to Internet Explorer. Install it, and use it to browse back to this page.
Now download Sage. You’ll probably need to grant permission for this site to install software. Once it’s installed, you will have to restart Firefox.
When you’ve restarted, go to View -> Sidebar -> Sage, or hit ALT-S. This should bring up the Sage sidebar (similar to the History sidebar). At the top you should see a magnifying glass icon. Go to my homepage and hit this icon - a popup window should appear, listing a single RSS feed. Click on this row and then on the “Add Feed” button. You should now see a line saying “maynardcase.co.uk” in the first of the two boxes.
Try clicking on the new feed line. A set of boxes should appear with the most recent posts. If you want to read more, just click the heading. The page doesn’t show photos, so you might want to click on the title at the top to just go back to the homepage.
So you have my feed listed; now what? Well, in a couple of days I might have gotten my arse in gear and posted another entry to my blog. If you want to easily check, just click on the two arrows icon in the Sage sidebar. If there’s something new, it’ll appear as a page with a red star icon.
This becomes more helpful when you have some other blog feeds listed. Try out some of those in my Recommended Blogs section - just go to the page, click on the Discover Feeds icon (the magnifying glass) and select the feed.
If a page has more than one feed, don’t worry; they are usually just in different formats but provide the same information. Just select one; if you have problems try the other.