Subscribing to feeds

PlusThat as an RSS feed reader

You can use PlusThat to subscribe to a feed of the latest articles from your favorite publishers.

Many websites offer an "RSS feed" of their published articles. PlusThat enables you to subscribe to these feeds so that you can see the latest articles from your favorite publishers right within PlusThat.

An RSS feed is a digital output from a website that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. You can find out more about RSS on Wikipedia.

The advantages of using PlusThat to subscribe to RSS feeds

1. Rather than having to visit all of your favorite websites in turn, you can subscribe to their feeds and see all of the articles together in one place;
2. You can add your subscribed feeds to different lists so you can easily look through all "Tech" articles or all "Fashion" articles depending on your mood.
3. You can come back to articles you don't want to read immediately by adding them to your Later List with a single tap on the "coffee cup" button
4. You can mark feeds read so that you then only get to see new publications next time
5. Your subscriptions and what you have marked read are synchronized across all your devices in real time
6. You can use the PlusThat reader mode to read each article in a single distraction free format rather than having to process the cognitive load of reading on many differently designed websites

How to add feeds

1. Go into the Feeds section of PlusThat by tapping on "Feeds" in the navigation menu or footer area.

2. Tap the orange floating action button

3. Paste the feed URL or the website URL whose feed you want to subscribe to into the input area at the top of the page and tap the "Save" button

4.  Select which of your lists you want to add the new feed to. Or create a new list.

How to find the feed URL for a publisher 

Many publishers will state somewhere on their website that they publish an RSS feed so look for the acronym "RSS" somewhere on the page. The RSS feed might also be shown using the RSS icon:

Larger publishers may offer several different RSS feeds for each category of content they provide.

If you click on a link that says it's an RSS feed an you're presented with what looks like code then this is probably the RSS feed itself. Simply copy the URL from the address bar and paste this into the input box in PlusThat.

Can't find a publisher's RSS feed

Sometimes a website does not directly advertise that it provides an RSS feed. The good news is that PlusThat is often able to find a publication's RSS feed. In these cases you can simply paste the URL of the website into the input field in PlusThat and PlusThat will attempt to find the feeds offered by that website.

Following feeds from another Plus

If you enjoy a Plussed article then you might also enjoy other content from the same publisher.

When you Plus content, PlusThat will check that content to see if it has any RSS feeds associated with it. In these cases you will see the RSS logo (as above, but in gray) or the words "Associated content feeds" next to the Plus. 

Tap the gray RSS icon to see a list of RSS feeds associated with the Plus. From here you will have the option to "Subscribe" to those feeds.

How to "Plus"

Saving and sharing with PlusThat is easy

Saving or sharing with PlusThat starts with "Plussing" some content. The content in question can be a blog post, a newspaper article, a song on Spotify, a podcast, a YouTube video, etc. Basically, anything that has a URL.

Once you Plus the content you can decide whether you want to add it to your Later List or your Bookmarks list, or you can share it or you can read it in the PlusThat distraction free Reader Mode.

Saving a Plus on the web

1. The PlusThat Chrome Extension

The easiest way to save Plusses on the web is to use the PlusThat Chrome extension. 

Once you have the extension installed, open the side panel with Alt+Shift+P (MacOS: Option+Shift+P) or tap the puzzle piece button (next to your avatar in the Chrome menu) and then tap the pin next to PlusThat. Once you've pinned PlusThat you can just tap the PlusThat icon to open the side panel.

Then simply click the coffee cup icon to save the page to your Later List. Or click the "Add to List" button to select which list to add the page to.

2. The PlusThat Bookmarklet

Another super-fast and easy way to save Plusses on the web is to use the PlusThat bookmarklet. 

Once you have the bookmarklet installed, you simply click it whenever you're on a page that you want to save. Find out how the bookmarklet works and how to install it here.

3. The floating action button within PlusThat

Open up PlusThat in your browser (at plusthat.com) and look in the bottom right corner. There you'll see the orange floating action button. 

Click the button and then click the "Add a new Plus" option. You'll then be prompted to paste in a URL. 

Paste the URL, tap OK and you're done. Your new Plus will be saved and added to your Later List. If you want to share it then tap on the share button on the Plus itself.

4. Prepending plusthat.com to the URL

To quickly enter reader mode for any article on the web, simply prepend "plusthat.com/" to the front of the address bar and then hit the Enter button. For example:

Original URL: 

https://aeon.co/essays/democracy-is-common-and-robust-historically-and-across-the-globe

Prepend "plusthat.com/":

plusthat.com/https://aeon.co/essays/democracy-is-common-and-robust-historically-and-across-the-globe

Saving a Plus on iOS

1. Share to PlusThat from another app

To Plus a URL simply share that URL to the PlusThat app from the app that you are currently using. A PlusThat sharing pane will appear to let you select which list you'd like to add the content to and also to give you the option to share with a friend.

For example, if you want to Plus a web page in Safari:

1. Tap the share button in the footer;
2. Find "Add to PlusThat" in the list of available apps (look for the green PlusThat icon - on some apps you may need to select "more" in order to see the full list of available apps);
3. Complete the save using the PlusThat sharing pane that appears at the bottom of the screen.

On most apps you can also long press on a link in order to bring up a context menu that gives you the option to share that link. You can also use this method to share to PlusThat and save the content.

2. Copy the URL and then open the PlusThat app

When you open PlusThat it will check you clipboard for a URL and give you the option to save the URL as a Plus.

To make use of this functionality simply copy the URL to your clipboard while you are using another app (like Safari, say). Then open the PlusThat app and a pop-up will appear at the bottom of the screen giving you the option to save the URL you have just copied as a Plus.

Saving a Plus on Android

1. Share to PlusThat from another app

To Plus a URL simply share that URL to the PlusThat app from the app that you are currently using. A PlusThat sharing pane will appear to let you select which list you'd like to add the content to and also to give you the option to share with a friend.

For example, if you want to Plus a web page in Chrome:

1. Tap the 3-dot menu button in the top right corner of the Chrome window;
2. Select "Share...";
3. Find "Add to PlusThat" in the list of available apps (look for the green PlusThat icon - on some apps you may need to select "more" in order to see the full list of available apps);
4. Complete the save using the PlusThat sharing pane that appears at the bottom of the screen.

On most apps you can also long press on a link in order to bring up a context menu that gives you the option to share that link. You can also use this method to share to PlusThat and save the content.

Note, the saved Plus will be synchronized to other devices when you next open the PlusThat app.

2. Copy the URL and then open the PlusThat app

When you open PlusThat it will check you clipboard for a URL and give you the option to save the URL as a Plus.

To make use of this functionality simply copy the URL to your clipboard while you are using another app (like Chrome, say). Then open the PlusThat app and a pop-up will appear at the bottom of the screen giving you the option to save the URL you have just copied as a Plus.

PlusThat - Getting started

Welcome to PlusThat! 

It's great to have you here :D

What is PlusThat? 

PlusThat is a free service that provides a more thoughtful way to discuss, save and share the content you love.

PlusThat is available on the web, iOS and Android.

PlusThat is also available as a Chrome extension on the Chrome Web Store.

Meaningful and relevant discussions

PlusThat helps you have more meaningful and relevant discussions relating to each piece of content because each web page has its own separate public and private chat threads. With PlusThat, the conversations always stay with the relevant piece of content.

Get the PlusThat Chrome extension to see public comments on every web page in the Chrome side panel.

Save for later from anywhere

You can save content from anywhere into your Later List so that you can enjoy it when you have time. You can also save content to your Bookmarks list that you might want to refer back to (recipies, for example). Your saves are instantly synchronized across all your devices so you can save on the web and read on your phone or vice versa.

You can "Plus" anything that has a URL (e.g. web pages, Spotify albums, YouTube videos, podcasts) to save it for later, share it, discuss it, or read it in the distraction-free reader mode.

Thoughtful sharing

You can share with and receive content from your friends - friends will know you better than algorithms, after all!

You'll be a thoughtful sharer if you share via PlusThat becvause the Plus you share will be automatically added to their Later List with a tag to show it was from you. This means they will be able to enjoy the content you shared when they're ready - they won't have to deal with it immediately or forget it, which often happens when links are shared in a fast moving chat thread.

You can also create groups and share content to groups where everybody will be able to join in the discussion around a piece of content.

The sharing benefits apply for you too, so be sure to ask your friends to share to you using PlusThat!

Here's how to get the most out of PlusThat:

1. Install the PlusThat Chrome extension for immediate access to public comments, private chats and easy saving for later: PlusThat Chrome extension;
2. Install the PlusThat bookmarklet on your laptop/desktop browser. Get bookmarklet here;
3. Learn what you can Plus (tip: anything with a URL) and how to Plus it. Learn how to Plus here;
4. Subscribe to content feeds from your favorite publishers. Learn how to subscribe to feeds here.

Our mission

Our mission is to help you get more from the content you find and the content that is shared with you. We want to help take the pressure off and let you absorb great content when you're ready to do so. And we want to help you help your friends do the same!

If you have any questions, requests or suggestions then please get in touch via our Contact Us page or email us at contact@plusthat.com.