No doubt you have seen those small orange 'XML' or 'RSS' buttons beginning to spread across some of your favourite web sites.

Perhaps you have clicked on one out of curiosity, only to be faced with a barrage of angle brackets and undecipherable code, seemingly designed to scare heck out of anyone less than familiar with intricacies of this new fangled technology creeping across web.

But once you click on that button - what do you do then? This article will show you exactly what to do. RSS? It's actually Really Simple, Stupid.

The first thing to do of course is click that button. It may be an orange button with 'XML' or 'RSS' written across it; or you could see word 'Atom'; or, less commonly, it could be blue with maybe initials 'RDF'; or it could be a simple link with something like 'Grab My Feed'. Gets confusing, doesn't it? But what acronyms like XML and RSS actually stand for is less than important - what to do after clicking button is important bit.

After clicking button, you will see all that code - if you have ever viewed source code to a web page, it looks a little similar.

RSS is just another language of web, but you can actually completely ignore code itself, just like you can ignore source code behind web pages that you visit - you are only interested in end product that code is designed to produce for you, end user.

In case of RSS, that end product is up to date news on topics you are interested in.

For example, if you want to keep up to date with latest information on financial markets, or growing marigolds, or your Aunt Mildred's blog as she travels across Antarctic, and you see a feed on that particular topic, you can 'subscribe' to it and receive messages via feed, each time publisher of feed updates it.

So how do you 'subscribe' to an RSS feed? The important bit is what is in browser address (or location) bar after clicking feed button, i.e. bit at top of your browser window that usually starts with 'http://...' and tells you web address of page you are visiting.

One good way to choose a developer is to ask for a recommendation from someone whose site you admire. It doesn't have to be someone you know in real life. Most people are flattered to get an email telling them how much you like their site and would they please give you name of developer.

Alternatively, there are online directories that list web designers and programmers. Some of these directory sites give you ability to request quotes from several developers who will respond to you online. If you find a developer on one of these directory sites, ask him or her for a list of sites they have done. Then call or email webmaster or other contact person listed on some of those sites. Ask if those clients were satisfied with quality and timeliness of developer's work, and whether developer showed an understanding of their requirements and a willingness to listen.

If you're willing to deal with people strictly by email, phone and IM, there are programmers in India and Russia who charge very little. Many of them frequent these online directories, so be aware that person answering your bid request may be half a world away.

Some dont's in picking a website designer