Here’s a tip for those who like to read blogs:

I like to use an aggregator to read blogs and news. An aggregator is a Web site that serves to gather information published by different sources – such as blogs – and organises it together in a common search interface. It can do this for any Web site that publishes an RSS feed. RSS stands for Rich Site Summary (RSS 1.0), or Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0). Here’s an explanation.

Here’s another explanation, which includes Atom, another kind of feed that’s like RSS.

Basically, you use the aggregator to subscribe to the blogs or new sources you like, and it keeps track of them for you. So I can go to one place and see all your blogs, and whether they’ve been updated, see samples of new posts, and click through to read the real thing.

There are many different aggregators, and for the past few years, I’ve been using Bloglines. It’s OK, but it’s complicated. Even the new Beta is complicated. It causes a tight feeling between my shoulder blades and a vague knot of aaarrgh right above my left eye.

Google and MyYahoo have both gotten into the aggregating game, with Google Reader and MyYahoo! I’ve tried them both, and decided to go with Google Reader. It’s pretty simple compared to Bloglines, and it has a lot more functions for labeling and sharing content than Yahoo.

On this blog, you will find a section in the right column called Subscribe to Metaphor. It offers subscription through several of the more popular aggregators.

That’s it. Bon Jour. Y’all come back now.