I am by no means tech savvy. In highschool, I took a couple intro to business classes and online graphics design and marketing classes and was decent at it. But the technical side of things makes me a little stymied.
That said, getting our new website up and running has been a learning experience for me. Stepping back from “big tech” platforms is slowly becoming a movement the more certain voices are muted while others are artificially amplified.
In my convictions to move platforms, I’ve learned a little bit about how to make my blog accessible for folks looking to follow us. The issue is that not being on a big platform such as Blogspot/Blogger (Google) or WordPress (Automattic, Inc.) means that those platforms fail to read the RSS feed of our new blog. The remedy for the situation? An RSS reader app!
Simple, no? Back tracking to 2004, the height of blog building, RSS feeds were essential in making your content accessible to readers, allowing them to “filter out the noise” and get to the content they cared about. Stepping away from big platforms means that all the automation the coders have already done for you is no longer a part of your independent platform. There are some website hosts and builders who have done legwork for you, but chances are it’s not quite as seamless as the big tech developer’s platforms.
So what does all this mean for Shaggy Maple Homestead? It means that in order to follow our new blog without seeing an XML document when you click the RSS feed button, you’ll have to download an RSS reader app. My favorite so far is this RSS Reader for offline reading.
This is what the home screen of the app looks like.
To add a new blog or website to your feed, simply click the “add RSS feed” button…
…and then copy and paste the html address of the blog you want to follow.
Then once you get our HTML address in there, you’ll be able to see all our latest posts in your feed!
Wholly Holy Living 