From MozillaZine Knowledge Base

This article explains how to use the Firefox "Live Bookmarks" feature to access web feeds.

Web feeds

Some web sites post lots of new articles or updates and provide an easy way to keep track of them through RSS or Atom web feeds. While you can always visit your bookmarked sites to see the latest articles, it's sometimes more convenient to have new stories sent to you automatically in a web feed. You can get the latest information that interests you this way, whether it's new headlines from Yahoo News's Business section, the latest entries from your favorite blog, or even news updates from mozillaZine.

If you are browsing a web site that has an available RSS or Atom feed, this icon: will appear at the right side of the Location Bar (or at the bottom-right of the browser window if you are using Firefox 1.0.x.)

Subscribing to feeds using Live Bookmarks

Firefox lets you subscribe to feeds using "Live Bookmarks". Your default Firefox bookmarks include one such web feed, the "Latest Headlines" feed, as shown in the screen capture here.

Firefox 3

You can choose different options for subscribing to web feeds, including "Add Live Bookmarks in Firefox", from "Tools -> Options -> Applications", by clicking on "Web Feed" in the list of content types and choosing an option from the drop-down menu.

Firefox 2

You can choose different options for subscribing to web feeds, including "Live Bookmarks", based on your selections under "Tools -> Options -> Feeds":

• Show me a preview and ask me which Feed Reader to use. If this option is selected, you will be presented with a preview of the feed content and a choice of using "Live Bookmarks", some web-based readers or your own application.
• Subscribe to the feed using: Select this option and choose "Live Bookmarks" if you always want to subscribe to feeds using "Live Bookmarks".

How to add a Live Bookmark

When you are on a web page where a web feed is available:

• Click the web feed icon at the right side of the Location Bar (you may need to select a title - some sites have more than one).
• If you have not previously set an automatic action to subscribe to feeds, set "Subscribe to this feed using" to "Live Bookmarks" and click "SubScribe Now"
• The "Add Live Bookmark" dialog will appear. Modify the name and "Create in" location, if you wish.
• Click "OK".

If a site doesn't display the icon in the Firefox Location Bar, it may still have an available feed. If you see a small orange icon with "RSS", "RDF" "XML" or "Atom" on the web page, then that icon will link to the feed. In Firefox 2 and above, you may be able to simply click the web feed link in the webpage to subscribe to the feed; otherwise, to manually add the feed as a Live Bookmark, follow these directions:

Manually adding a Live Bookmark

Context-click (right-click) the "RSS", "RDF", "XML" or "Atom" icon that links to the web feed and select "Copy Link Location", then proceed as follows:

• Firefox 3:
  • Paste (or type in) the URL for the web feed into the Firefox Location Bar (address bar)
  • Click the "Go" arrow (or press the "Enter" key).
  • Subscribe to the feed using Live Bookmarks as explained above.

• Firefox 2:
  • Use the above instructions or add a new Live Bookmark using the Bookmarks Manager, as follows:

• Firefox 2 and below:
  • Go to "Bookmarks -> Organize (or Manage) Bookmarks to open the Bookmarks Manager
  • Click "File -> New Live Bookmark".
  • Type in a name and type or paste in the feed location you copied earlier.
  • Click OK. (If your new Live Bookmark does not appear on your Bookmarks toolbar you can reopen the Bookmarks Manager and drag it there, if you wish.)

See also

• RSS basics (Thunderbird)

External links

• Live Bookmarks (Firefox Support)
• Bug 329534 - Live bookmarks load way too aggressively (lock up/hang/freeze browser) (Fixed in Firefox 3.1)