Stay up to Date

MyUBCard.com allows students, faculty, and parents to keep up to date with the daily dining hall menu and daily dining specials around campus. This information is offered in the form of an RSS feed. To learn more about feeds and how to read them, read below. For those already experienced in reading RSS feeds, simply point your reader to http://www.myubcard.com/feeds/daily.rss.

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is implemented in the form of feeds, which are files made available on the internet by websites to update its visitors on new content. These feeds are updated periodically which deliver the new content to the users.

In order for users to receive this content, they must use a feed reader or feed aggregator to view the feed. These programs periodically check the feeds for any updates, and the user can view these updates and click to see more information. This will often be a link to the website that publishes the feed where the user can see a detailed web page with the information on it. Users who often read RSS feeds usually check their feed reader daily for any new information/articles in any feeds they are monitoring.

MyUBCard.com offers an RSS feed which displays the dining hall menu for the current day and any dining specials available for the current day. Using this technology, students can quickly view the food available around campus with the running of a program or the viewing of a web page.

Viewing an RSS Feed

Here are just a few of the possible feed readers that you can use to read RSS feeds, including a walkthrough on how to add MyUBCard.com's feed to them:

  • Internet Explorer 7
  1. Click this link to visit the RSS feed directly: http://www.myubcard.com/feeds/daily.rss or open the URL manually in IE7.
  2. Click "Subscribe to this Feed" in the pale yellow box.
  3. In the new window that opens, change the name of the Feed if desired. Then, choose which folder to place the feed in. This folder is for organizational purposes only and is for your reference should you start subscribing to multiple feeds. Click Subscribe.
  4. To view the Dining RSS feed, open the bookmarks (the yellow star icon below the back button) and click Feeds. Then click on Campus Dining & Shops.
  • Mozilla Firefox
  1. Click this link to visit the RSS feed directly: http://www.myubcard.com/feeds/daily.rss or open the URL manually in Firefox.
  2. At the top of the page, Firefox will give you various options on subscribing to the feed. Choose the default option, Live Bookmarks, and click the Subscribe Now button.
  3. Choose a bookmark folder to store the Live Bookmark in. Campus Dining & Shops recommends you choose the Bookmarks Toolbar Folder for easy access to the RSS feed.
  4. To view the Dining RSS feed, open your bookmarks and navigate to the folder you chose to store the Live Bookmark in. If you chose the Bookmarks Toolbar Folder, the Dining RSS feed will appear in the bar below the address bar in the main Firefox window. Simply click on it to see today's dining information.
  • Mozilla Thunderbird
  1. Go to Tools -> Account Settings...
  2. Click the Add Account button.
  3. Choose the RSS News & Blogs option, and click Next.
  4. For Account Name, enter "Dining Hall Menu and Specials". Click Next. Click Finish.
  5. In the left panel, "Dining Hall Menu and Specials" should appear in the list. Click on that entry in the list.
  6. Click the Manage Subscriptions... button. Click Add.
  7. For feed URL, enter http://www.myubcard.com/content/rss/feed.rss and click Ok.
  8. Close the RSS Subscriptions window and click Ok to close the Account Settings window.
  9. To view the Dining RSS feed, expand the "Dining Hall Menu and Specials" item in the left-hand list of accounts in the Thunderbird main window. Then select the "Campus Dining & Shops" item with the satellite icon next to it.
  • Other readers, including online feed readers: