RSS FEED an Introduction

What is RSS?

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content. It is used by computer programs that organize those headlines and notices for easy reading.

Also called web feeds, RSS is a content delivery vehicle. It is the format used when you want to syndicate news and other web content. When it distributes the content it is called a feed. You could think of RSS as your own personal wire service.

History

RSS introduced by Netscape in 1999.

Ø The first version is 0.90.

Ø Followed by the 0.91 version that has been improved by the Userland Company in 2000.

Ø In 2000 the version 1.0 based on RDF was created by O’Reilly and further maintained by the RSS-DEV group, and named RDF Site Summary.

Ø RSS 2.0 was defined by Dave Winer (previously worker at Userland) at Harvard University in 2002.

RSS Syntax

RSS defines an XML grammar (a set of HTML-like tags) for sharing news. Each RSS text file contains both static information about your site, plus dynamic information about your new stories, all surrounded by matching start and end tags.

Each story is defined by an <item> tag, which contains a headline TITLE, URL, and DESCRIPTION. Here’s an example:

...

<item>

  <title>RSS Resources</title>

  <link>http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/</link>

  <description>Defined in XML, the Rich Site Summary (RSS) format has

  quietly become a dominant format for distributing headlines on the Web.

  Our list of links gives you the tools, tips and tutorials you need to get

  started using RSS. 0323</description>

</item>

...

What problem does RSS solve?

Most people are interested in many websites whose content changes on an unpredictable schedule. Examples of such websites are news sites, community and religious organization information pages, product information pages, medical websites, and weblogs. Repeatedly checking each website to see if there is any new content can be very tedious.

Email notification of changes was an early solution to this problem. Unfortunately, when you receive email notifications from multiple websites they are usually disorganized and can get overwhelming, and are often mistaken for spam.

RSS is a better way to be notified of new and changed content. Notifications of changes to multiple websites are handled easily, and the results are presented to you well organized and distinct from email.

How do people read feeds?

To receive an RSS feed, you need a newsreader - or content aggregator.

In the same way that you need a radio receiver to be able to hear radio stations, you need a feed reader to get the feed content.

There are Web-based readers like Bloglines and My Yahoo.

There are also downloadable newsreaders you can install on your desktop like our PRESSfeed reader.

Others, like NewsGator, have both free and paid services.

Newsreaders offer a variety of special features, including combining several related feeds into a single view, hiding items that the viewer has already seen, and categorizing feeds and items.

Once you set up your reader with your preferences, it will collect the feeds you’re interested in every time there is an update.

Syndicate your content

We have talked about including content specific RSS feeds within your web site but another approach is to syndicate your content across other web sites. This can be achieved in a number of different ways.