Let local news come to you

It's easy. It's convenient.

Sign up for The Ottawa Herald's News Headline Service. It will deliver breaking news headlines directly to you on your computer through your own RSS Reader. And you get to choose what topics or local areas you want read about.

It's a technology called Really Simple Syndication.

All you have to do is read your favorite pages on www.ottawaherald.com and watch for the orange square RSS symbol.

How it works

When you click on it you will be offered the opportunity to "subscribe" to, or to bookmark, the service, which will regularly update a list of stories on your computer as they are added to The Herald's Web site.

Different browsers and different users have different ways to use an RSS headline feed.

Some may allow you to view a list of headlines as a drop-down (or "fly-out") directly from your browser's bookmarks.

Some people use third-party RSS readers, which track any and all feeds you may select.

Many browsers also give you the option of posting the headlines to your personalized Web portal page. For instance, you can add the headlines, updated regularly, to your own personal Google or Yahoo home page.

It's up to you.

So click the RSS symbol for pages you want to monitor closely and then check your RSS Reader for the latest headlines. Each headline will link directly back to the full story on www.ottawaherald.com.

Here are some links to sites for commonly used browsers where you can brush up on using an RSS Reader reader for the browser you prefer.

• Microsoft PC
• Internet Explorer
• FireFox
• Macintosh
• Safari
• FireFox