# An RSS icon is needed
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** sso, wordpress, discourseconnect
**Created:** [January 15, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023 "2015-01-15T04:34:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@strager](https://meta.discourse.org/u/strager)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/1 "2015-01-15T04:34:38Z")
Continuing the discussion from [Top Posts - Getting List on another page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/top-posts-getting-list-on-another-page/24001/3):
> [@strager](#):
>
> There’s an RSS feed? I don’t see the icon anywhere…
There should be an RSS icon somewhere so users know that a site supports it. (toggle in admin for those users who don’t want to advertise the functionality?)
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2015, 11:41am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/2 "2015-01-15T11:41:26Z")
Long story, but rss has been increasingly deemphasized for years by browser UIs.
Also it is hard to detect for clients when we build the links in JavaScript as we do.
The general expectation is if you know what it is for, you will know how to find it.
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### Author:  [@thump](https://meta.discourse.org/u/thump)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2015, 7:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/3 "2015-01-16T07:33:15Z")
If you know where they are you could probably just put the links in a thread called rss so people can search for it or just a link in the header or welcome post to that post and/or straight to feed.
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### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2015, 8:31am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/4 "2015-01-16T08:31:20Z")
Sounds like a good use for that Meta category you have by default 😉
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### Author:  [@strager](https://meta.discourse.org/u/strager)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/5 "2015-01-17T06:50:24Z")
I think he means (forgive me if i’m wrong @thump) you should create a post in the default installation, so when a new Discourse admin is setting up their site they have a reference link kind of like the welcome post you have now. This way less technical admins both know RSS is available, and have the information they need to quickly create feeds.
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### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2015, 6:51am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/6 "2015-01-17T06:51:55Z")
Nope, I’m saying that if you think your community needs to know about `latest.rss`, then you should create a Meta post telling people about it.
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### Author:  [@strager](https://meta.discourse.org/u/strager)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2015, 6:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/7 "2015-01-17T06:53:00Z")
No not you riking - I think That’s what thump was saying TO you…
Unless he was talking to me in which case he was saying the same thing you just did…
But the point of the icon isn’t to let your community know you support RSS per-say. It’s to allow an easy reference for other sites who might want to syndicate content from your site.
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2015, 7:05am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/8 "2015-01-17T07:05:30Z")
Granted, the forum is skewed to web dev techies, but I was a bit surprised many still do use RSS
> **[Do you use an RSS feed reader?](https://www.sitepoint.com/community/t/do-you-use-an-rss-feed-reader/103647)**
>
> Technology has changed a lot since RSS first appeared. And it’s questionable how much a place it still has today. But the SitePoint forum does have RSS. For example. http://www.sitepoint.com/community/latest.rss ...
I’m thinking for the Discourse pages that don’t have native RSS that using JSON would be the best approach
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### Author:  [@strager](https://meta.discourse.org/u/strager)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2015, 7:14am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/9 "2015-01-17T07:14:53Z")
We did use JSON ultimatly because we had no choice, but RSS is good to use when you can because there are like a bajillion snippets and scripts out there (many of which are pre-themed and look GOOD and only need minor adjustments) for RSS and only a few good ones for JSON, none of which we could get to work here (@zogstrip provided me with a fantastic working example we were able to use to make some great stuff with)
EDIT: It’s also much easier to work with for novice and intermediary coders.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2015, 9:00am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/10 "2015-01-17T09:00:20Z")
Sorry, RSS still doesn’t make sense for /top though. There are plenty of other RSS feeds on the site.
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### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2025, 11:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/an-rss-icon-is-needed/24023/11 "2025-12-04T11:33:28Z")