Botanic Garden News on Your Desktop
Our RSS location for your newsreader is
If you already have an RSS news reader please paste this URL into it to start receiving botanic garden news straight to your desktop .
If you don't have RSS, you may prefer to download our BGCI Toolbar or read on to find out how to get RSS.
What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication".
It is a way to get information from a website to appear on your computer screen as it is published. You can see the latest headlines and articles appear in a small window, without having to remember to visit the site. It is not the same as a website pop-up.
RSS feeds are designed to be read by computers rather than people. You use a small piece of software called a News Reader to turn this into a page you can read on your screen.
How Do I Get BGCI News on my Desktop?
You will need to download some software called an RSS News Reader or Aggregator. This software checks RSS feeds and lets you know about any new articles as they are added to the website.
There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications. Browser-based news readers let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from anywhere, whereas downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer, in the same way that you either download your e-mail using Outlook, or keep it on a web-based service like Hotmail.
Once you have chosen a news reader, you have to subscribe to the relevant RSS feeds. This means you get a website address and paste it into your software. To get the BGCI news the address you need is
http://www.bgci.org/news.rss
On many websites, including ours, look for an RSS button - for example
If you click on the button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the RSS feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader.
Most sites that offer RSS feeds use a similar orange RSS button, but some may just have a normal web link to the feed.
Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for RSS feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to RSS feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites.
How do I Get a News Reader?
There is a range of different news readers available and new versions are appearing all the time.
Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer.
Here is a list of some widely used RSS readers:
Simple, but gets the job done. Suitable for Windows users.
Check all your feeds from any web browser.
Easy to use reader that sends news summaries by email
A news aggregator you access through a web browser. (Mac/Win/Linux)
A more complicated aggregator for Windows. (Win)
Like SharpReader, but sporadically updated. (Win)
Read the news from within Microsoft Outlook. (Win)
Lets you create your own customized news page with feeds from the sites you're interested in. (Web)
This elegant Mac-like aggregator is easy to use and powerful.
The best aggregator for Linux GNOME.
Staying in Touch: BGCI Electronic Publications and Alerts
BGCI offers several ways of staying in touch with us and the global botanic gardens community through our e-bulletins and news update services.
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Latest Publications
The latest status reports and other key publications, providing everyone from government to concerned gardeners with information on plant threats and recommendations for action to secure floral diversity.
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