Think about all of the information that you access on the Web on a day-to-day basis; news headlines, search results, “What’s New”, job vacancies, and so forth. A large amount of this content can be thought of as a list; although it probably isn’t in HTML elements, the information is list-oriented.
Most people need to track a number of these lists, but it becomes difficult once there are more than a handful of sources. This is because they have to go to each page, load it, remember how it’s formatted, and find where they last left off in the list.
RSS is an XML-based format that allows the syndication of lists of hyperlinks, along with other information, or metadata, that helps viewers decide whether they want to follow the link.
This allows peoples’ computers to fetch and understand the information, so that all of the lists they’re interested in can be tracked and personalized for them. It is a format that’s intended for use by computers on behalf of people, rather than being directly presented to them (like HTML).
To enable this, a Web site will make a feed, or channel, available, just like any other file or resource on the server. Once a feed is available, computers can regularly fetch the file to get the most recent items on the list. Most often, people will do this with an aggregator, a program that manages a number of lists and presents them in a single interface. Feeds can also be used for other kinds of list-oriented information, such as syndicating the content itself (often weblogs) along with the links.
There are a number of different versions of the RSS format in use today, but the main choices are RSS 1.0 and RSS 2.0. Each version has its benefits and drawbacks; RSS 2.0 is known for its simplicity, while RSS 1.0 is more extensible and fully specified. Both formats are XML-based and have the same basic structure.
There’s one more choice; Atom is an effort in the IETF (an Internet standards body) to come up with a well-documented, standard syndication format. Although it has a different name, it has the same basic functions as RSS, and many people use the term “RSS” to refer to RSS or Atom syndication.
Generally, though, you should look for available RSS Modules, rather than defining your own, unless you’re sure that what you need doesn’t exist. Google Blog for example, has build-in feed, using Atom that can be easily use to let your site visitors subscribe to your post. You can look at my blog here, that was already prepared to use RSS Modules.
Most people need to track a number of these lists, but it becomes difficult once there are more than a handful of sources. This is because they have to go to each page, load it, remember how it’s formatted, and find where they last left off in the list.
RSS is an XML-based format that allows the syndication of lists of hyperlinks, along with other information, or metadata, that helps viewers decide whether they want to follow the link.
This allows peoples’ computers to fetch and understand the information, so that all of the lists they’re interested in can be tracked and personalized for them. It is a format that’s intended for use by computers on behalf of people, rather than being directly presented to them (like HTML).
To enable this, a Web site will make a feed, or channel, available, just like any other file or resource on the server. Once a feed is available, computers can regularly fetch the file to get the most recent items on the list. Most often, people will do this with an aggregator, a program that manages a number of lists and presents them in a single interface. Feeds can also be used for other kinds of list-oriented information, such as syndicating the content itself (often weblogs) along with the links.
There are a number of different versions of the RSS format in use today, but the main choices are RSS 1.0 and RSS 2.0. Each version has its benefits and drawbacks; RSS 2.0 is known for its simplicity, while RSS 1.0 is more extensible and fully specified. Both formats are XML-based and have the same basic structure.
There’s one more choice; Atom is an effort in the IETF (an Internet standards body) to come up with a well-documented, standard syndication format. Although it has a different name, it has the same basic functions as RSS, and many people use the term “RSS” to refer to RSS or Atom syndication.
Generally, though, you should look for available RSS Modules, rather than defining your own, unless you’re sure that what you need doesn’t exist. Google Blog for example, has build-in feed, using Atom that can be easily use to let your site visitors subscribe to your post. You can look at my blog here, that was already prepared to use RSS Modules.
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