What is this orange icon I see throughout your Web site?
That orange icon means the content in that section can be viewed through an RSS Feed.
What is RSS and an RSS Feed?
RSS is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content. It is an acronym that can stand for “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary.” It’s a new feature that many Web sites offer their visitors, particularly sites that have news items, articles and blogs.
An RSS Feed (sometimes called a Feed, Web Feed or Channel) is a listing of recently posted items. An RSS Feed Reader (sometimes called a Feeder, Reader or Aggregator) brings all of your RSS Feeds together in one place.
RSS is a way for people to subscribe to news items and articles on a Web site… without receiving an e-mail and without having to visit that site every day.
My head is spinning. What does that actually mean?
In short, RSS Feeds let you view new items and articles that we post on our Web site…as soon as we post them. An RSS Feed Reader is the vehicle for viewing these feeds.
Still confused? Read further explanation below.
Sounds great. How do I sign up?
First, you will need to pick a Feed Reader. Here are some sites that have Feed Readers:
Be sure to bookmark your feed reader’s site or add it as a favorite in your Web browser. You will need to visit your Feed Reader in order to take advantage of this technology!
MS Office 2007 users have it even easier – RSS Feeds are built right into the new Outlook.
Once you’ve picked your feed reader, subscribe to some RSS Feeds!
Subscribe to your favorite feeds throughout the NAA site by clicking the orange RSS icon, or by clicking "Add subscription" when you are on your Feed Reader site. Headlines will update automatically as soon as they are published on www.naahq.org.
Please note: NAA is not the only Web site with RSS Feeds. On the same Feed Reader, you can subscribe to feeds from newspaper Web sites, political journal sites, your favorite blog sites and more! Look for these icons:
To see your favorite feeds, visit your new feed reader often and view all the feeds to which you have subscribed.
If you have Office 2007, simply view your feeds underneath your Inbox messages in Outlook!
Further Explanation about RSS
Let’s use a metaphor. Think of the NAA Web site as a newspaper. This newspaper has a variety of sections…About Us, Government Affairs, Education, etc. Within each of these sections, there can be some pretty cool articles and features.
Let’s say your favorite section to read is the Government Affairs. And your favorite column in that section of the paper is called “Recent Government Affairs Issues.” 
It lists out all the latest and greatest apartment industry issues that are happening on Capitol Hill.
What are some ways you can read this column in a standard printed newspaper? First, you can walk by the newsstand whenever it suits you and you pick up your daily paper. An even faster way to get it is to be a subscriber; the paper is delivered directly to you. So every morning, you open your front door, flip to the Government Affairs section, and flip to the Recent Government Affairs Issues column.
Now think of it one step better. Let’s say that you could subscribe to your favorite column ONLY…and that column arrives at your door. But it arrives ONLY when there is a new “Recent Government Affairs Issues” item written. And it arrives the MOMENT that column is written.
Wouldn't that would be a pretty fast and efficient way to get your news?
Apply that same concept to the NAA Web site, where the newsstand is the Internet, the newspaper is the NAA Web site and the “Recent Government Affairs Issues” column is an RSS Feed.
You can stop by the newsstand (Internet), grab your paper (go to www.naahq.org), scroll the paper (browse or search the site), find that column and see for yourself if there are any new articles written.
~ OR ~
You can subscribe to that column (RSS Feed) and have the information delivered to your front door (RSS Feed Reader).
Still confused? The best way to see how it works is to sign up!
Otherwise, we’ve found some other online tools to further explain how RSS Feeds work: