Subscribe to RSS Feed

Subscribe to the California Department of Real Estate "News Flash" RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed to get DRE news delivered directly to your email or desktop!

DRE news and information is available through RSS feeds, which use a technology called XML to deliver headlines and summaries to your desktop or Web browser.

RSS content can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader" or an "aggregator". The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds.

• RSS Email Sign-Up Instructions - Step by Step Guide

Subscribe

You may subscribe by using the following two options (email or feed reader):

What is RSS?

A RSS feed is a regularly updated summary of web content, along with links to full versions of that content. When you subscribe to a given website's feed by using a feed reader, you'll receive a summary of new content from that website. Please Note: you must use a feed reader in order to subscribe to website feeds.

You can also use an online news reader such as MyYahoo or Windows Live. Firefox allows you to add feeds to some of these services automatically. To do so, use Firefox's Tools menu, select Options and select Feeds menu.

Why Would Ordinary Web Users Like RSS?

The advantages of RSS are quite simple: They save time.

Instead of remembering to visit a favorite Web site, the news comes directly into your computer daily or at whatever interval you want.

What's more, most RSS feeds contain just links, headlines, or brief synopsis of new information only. That means the small amount of Web data can be sent to any XML-compatible device - a cell phone, pager, or handheld computer - without a lengthy download.

More importantly, RSS gives you control over receiving information you want without revealing information about yourself. Unlike subscribing to an e-mail newsletter, you never have to give out your e-mail address with an RSS feed. That avoids the possibility of receiving spam or unwanted junk e-mail from the Web site.

RSS aggregator or reader programs

Think of an RSS aggregator as just a web browser for RSS content. RSS aggregators automatically check a series of RSS feeds for new items on an ongoing basis, making it is possible to keep track of changes to multiple websites without needing to tediously read and re-read each of the websites yourself. They detect the additions and present them all together to you in a compact and useful manner. If the title and description of an item are of interest, the link can be used to quickly bring the related web page up for reading.

How do I sign up to RSS feeds?

Each browser handles RSS feeds a little differently. Typically an icon like this RSS icon will appear in or near the browser's address bar. Clicking the icon will allow you to subscribe to that page's feed.

Simply look for the orange XML graphic on these pages and elsewhere on the site. Mouse over the image, right-click, and copy the URL. (Choose "Copy Shortcut" for Internet Explorer, "Copy Link Location" for Netscape and Mozilla, or "Copy Link Address" for Opera). In your news reader, select the option that adds a new feed or channel, then paste.

Customize your news reader to meet your particular preferences, such as how often you wish to update your feed. RSS feeds update frequently, so we recommend no less than once every few hours.