How To Use RSS Feed With Basecamp

RSS has become the most popular web-based medium for circulating published content. RSS or Real Simple Syndication allows you to receive information regarding specific topics which is typically delivered in the form of Feeds. Most RSS Feeds have a similar structural configuration — an eye-catching headline and a small teaser about the actual content.

The most common type of content that is delivered through RSS includes Feeds of the latest news across different genres in the form of blogs or articles along with industry-specific content. Those who want to read the entire content can click on a link that is forwarded as a part of the Feed. This link takes the reader to the actual website from where the Feed was sourced.

One online, collaborative tool that is increasingly gaining prominence to help people organize and execute their projects is Basecamp. It is being used by a number of small organizations to keep track of their projects, as it offers some of the most undemanding project management functionalities, including creating RSS Feeds for nearly any topic of interest. Basecamp users need to download a newsreader to gain access to RSS Feeds. The personalized security of RSS Feeds is assured since each Basecamp user can view his Feeds by entering the same user name/password used to log into the Basecamp account.

Basecamp makers themselves recommend newsreaders like FeedDemon for PC users and NetNewsWire for Mac users.

Once a RSS newsreader software has been installed, you have to simply copy URL of any chosen Basecamp RSS Feed and paste it in the Subscription part of the news-reading software. There might be some softwares, where the process is even simpler, i.e. you just have to drag the link to gain access to that particular news feed. You can even customize your newsreader to limit the number of times you want the Feeds to be ‘Refreshed’.

Where exactly is the RSS Feed option located in Basecamp?

• Every project in Basecamp has a tab called Overview
• Inside, you will find a link — ‘Subscribe to your project RSS feed’ on the right-hand side.

If you are prompted to enter user name/password by your feed reader or a third-party product that you are using, you have to extract the information from Basecamp:

• Click on ‘My info’ > This leads to the ‘OpenID’ section
• Click on the Link reading ‘Reveal my special user name/password’
• Use this user name/password whenever the feed reader or third-party products ask for one.

Since, Basecamp RSS Feeds are protected by password-based security, they are not compatible with Google Reader, Safari RSS and Firefox

This is a section that has been equipped with two kinds of Feeds — the RSS Feed and another one pertaining to iCalendar. This solves a major issue — instead of individually subscribing to each project-related feed, you can simply opt for being updated with all the project-related activities via RSS itself. Similarly, all the small landmarks that have been achieved along a project’s lifecycle are listed in systematically the iCalendar.