RSS Syndication Questions and Answers

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What is RSS?

RSS - Really Simple Syndication - defines a specification that is used for distributing "feeds" of information. RSS itself is a form of XML (eXtensible Markup Language), and complies with the XML 1.0 specification.

The feed defined by an RSS XML file contains structured information about content items, such as the information title, an HTML link to the full information content, and an excerpt from the content.

Where can I read the RSS specifications?

There is no single RSS specification. Instead, there are different versions and variations of RSS. The most important RSS versions are RSS 1.0 and RSS 2.0, but within these major versions there are minor variations. And even feeds that comply with the RSS 1.0 or RSS 2.0 specification may name specific fields differently from one another (for example, Date or pubDate).

You can learn more about the various RSS specifications at Harvard Law RSS Specification information site.

What software do I need to view an RSS feed?

The RSS XML file used for syndication is pretty structurally simple, so you can actually look at one manually and get a pretty good idea about an RSS feed (what it is called, what the first few content items are, and so on). This means that writing software that can "read" and RSS file is an easy and straightforward proposition. It's easy enough that many people and companies have done so, and many people use this kind of software. According to a recent survey, more than 6 million Americans get news and information using RSS software.

Software that you use to display RSS feeds is often referred to as an "RSS aggregator" -- "aggregator" because it is intended to combine more than one RSS syndication feed.

You can download software that lets you view RSS feeds in your Web browser, as part of an email program, or standalone on your desktop. You can also view RSS feeds using any Web browser with no special software on this site.

There's a very complete list of RSS software on the O'Reilly XML.com site. If you are interested in adding an RSS reader to Internet Explorer, Pluck is a good choice. I enjoy reading RSS feeds along with my email. If this appeals to you, you may be interested to know that the Mozilla Thunderbird email program is also an RSS reader. Enewsbar is a standalone Windows desktop program that presents RSS feed items on a scrolling ticker.

Obviously, there's a great deal of variety in software that can be used to read RSS feeds. You should experiment and find what suits you best!

How can I find RSS feeds that interest me?

That's a very good question. There are tons of great RSS feeds out there. There are certain to be some that interest you. But finding them is not always easy.

It is likely that the RSS software that you use to read syndicated feeds will offer you some suggestions about RSS feeds that are available. You can also find RSS feeds using Feedster, with is an RSS search engine. Tara Calishain of ResearchBuzz has some interesting ideas about how you might find RSS feeds automatically. I've added some of my favorite RSS feeds as presets to the Googleplex RSS Viewer page. Here's the link for the RSS feed for the Googleplex Blog.

Finally, keep your eyes open while you search the Web. More and more RSS feeds are cropping up. If you see a link to a feed while you are browsing pages that interest you (many RSS feed links are marked with small orange buttons), add it to your RSS viewer before you lose track of it.

How can I add a feed I see on the Googleplex RSS Viewer page to my own RSS reader?

Here's how:

Open the Googleplex RSS Viewer page
Select an RSS feed that interests you from the list, for example, BBC World News
Click Display Feed. The RSS feed items will be displayed on the page
At the top of the feed, you'll see the words "Syndication Feed" followed by the feed's title in a hyperlink. Click the hyperlink. This will open the home page for the site that sponsors the RSS feed in your browser
Look for the RSS feed or feeds offered by the site (you may have to search the site for them)
Click the RSS link to open the XML feed in your browser. You can read the full address for the feed in the Address Bar of your browser.
Copy and paste the address of the feed from your browser's address bar into the RSS Feed managemant system of your RSS reader software

Please use the Braintique contact form to let us know if this is a big issue for any of you. If it is, we'll add a mechanism that provides the address of a displayed feed automatically.

Why do I see XML when I click the link to a feed?

An RSS syndication feed is an XML file. You are seeing the contents of this file when you open it in your Web browser. To view the RSS feed normally, it is necessary to open the link in software designed for displaying RSS feeds (see "What software do I need to view an RSS feed?").

How can I display an RSS feed on my Web page?

See the Googleplex Blog about page for information about this.

How can create my own RSS feed?

Almost any modern publication or content management system will either optionally or automatically create an RSS syndication feed based on the content you supply. In particular, it's natural to combine blogging with syndication, because by creating blog entires you are also potentially creating syndication feed items. So most software used for creating blogs also publishes RSS syndication feeds of the blogs, almost as a by product. MoveableType is one of the best of these blog creation tools, and it provides a template-driven automatic RSS feed creation facility. WordPress is an open source blogging management tool that offers elegant feed generation.

If you look through the list of RSS software on the O'Reilly XML.com site you'll find many tools for standalone creation and management of RSS feeds.

Why should I care about RSS?

What am I? Your mother? Why should I tell you what to care about?

Here are some of the reasons to care about RSS:

Lots of people use it: according to a recent survey, more than 6 million Americans get news and information using RSS software. If you don't syndicate with RSS, you are missing an audience and a market.
RSS is a great way to find timely information in a manageable form: the information is "pushed" to you, but you can control when and how you view it
RSS is one of those apparently simple technologies with powerful implications: the combination of RSS and blogging will change the way information is published and read

How does RSS compare to Atom?

This is coming after some more research...