RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS document, which is called a "feed," "web feed," or "channel," contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that's easier than checking them manually.
What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It is a way to easily distribute a list of headlines, update notices, and sometimes content to a wide number of people. It is used by computer programs that organize those headlines and notices for easy reading.
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 does RSS work?
RSS works by having the website author maintain a list of notifications on their website in a standard way. This list of notifications is called an "RSS Feed". People who are interested in finding out the latest headlines or changes can check this list. Special computer programs called "RSS aggregators" have been developed that automatically access the RSS feeds of websites you care about on your behalf and organize the results for you. (RSS feeds and aggregators are also sometimes called "RSS Channels" and "RSS Readers".)
Producing an RSS feed is very simple and hundreds of thousands of websites now provide this feature, including major news organizations like the New York Times, the BBC, and Reuters, as well as many weblogs.
What information does RSS provide?
RSS provides very basic information to do its notification. It is made up of a list of items presented in order from newest to oldest. Each item usually consists of a simple title describing the item along with a more complete description and a link to a web page with the actual information being described. Sometimes this description is the full information you want to read (such as the content of a weblog post) and sometimes it is just a summary.
For example, the RSS information for headlines on a local news website could contain the following information:
Item 1:
Title: Sidewalk contract awarded
Description: The city awarded the sidewalk contract to Smith Associates. This hotly contested deal is worth $1.2 million.
Description: The governor is scheduled to visit the city on July 1st. This is the first visit since the election two years ago. The mayor is planning a big reception.
The RSS information is placed into a single file on a website in a manner similar to normal web pages. However, the information is coded in the XML computer language for use by a program (the RSS aggregator) and not by a person like a normal web page.
RSS aggregator programs
Think of an RSS aggregator as just a web browser for RSS content. RSS aggregators automatically check a series of RSS feeds for new items on an ongoing basis, making it is possible to keep track of changes to multiple websites without needing to tediously read and re-read each of the websites yourself. They detect the additions and present them all together to you in a compact and useful manner. If the title and description of an item are of interest, the link can be used to quickly bring the related web page up for reading.
Here is a screen shot of an RSS aggregator in action. On the left is a list of the RSS feeds being monitored, along with an indication of the number of unread items in each feed in parenthesis. On the right are the details of the most recent items in a selected RSS feed (in this case, the New York Times).
There are many RSS aggregators available. Some are accessed through a browser, some are integrated into email programs, and some run as a standalone application on your personal computer.
How do I find out if a website has an RSS feed?
It is getting more and more common for websites to have RSS feeds. They usually indicate the existence of the feed on the home page or main news page with a link to "RSS", or sometimes by displaying an orange button with the letters "XML" or "RSS". RSS feeds are also often found via a "Syndicate This" link. Text "RSS" links sometimes (there are lots of variations) point to a web page explaining the nature of the RSS feeds provided and how to find them. The buttons are often linked directly to the RSS feed file itself.
Once you know the URL of an RSS feed, you can provide that address to an RSS aggregator program and have the aggregator monitor the feed for you. Many RSS aggregators come preconfigured with a list to choose from of RSS feed URLs for popular news websites.
How is the RSS feed file produced?
Unless you are maintaining a website or want to create your own RSS feed for some other purpose, how the RSS feed is produced should not be of concern and you may skip this section.
The special XML-format file that makes up an RSS feed is usually created in one of a variety of ways.
Most large news websites and most weblogs are maintained using special "content management" programs. Authors add their stories and postings to the website by interacting with those programs and then use the program's "publish" facility to create the HTML files that make up the website. Those programs often also can update the RSS feed XML file at the same time, adding an item referring to the new story or post, and removing less recent items. Blog creation tools like Blogger, LiveJournal, Movable Type, and Radio automatically create feeds.
Websites that are produced in a more custom manner, such as with Macromedia Dreamweaver or a simple text editor, usually do not automatically create RSS feeds. Authors of such websites either maintain the XML files by hand, just as they do the website itself, or use a tool such as Software Garden, Inc.'s ListGarden program to maintain it. There are also services that periodically read requested websites themselves and try to automatically determine changes (this is most reliable for websites with a somewhat regular news-like format), or that let you create RSS feed XML files that are hosted by that service provider.
Tying it all together
Here is a diagram showing how the websites, the RSS feed XML files, and your personal computer are connected:
The diagram shows a web browser being used to read first Web Site 1 over the Internet and then Web Site 2. It also shows the RSS feed XML files for both websites being monitored simultaneously by an RSS Feed Aggregator.
Other uses
In addition to notifying you about news headlines and changes to websites, RSS can be used for many other purposes. There does not even have to be a web page associated with the items listed -- sometimes all the information you need may be in the titles and descriptions themselves.
Some commonly mentioned uses are:
Notification of the arrival of new products in a store
Listing and notifying you of newsletter issues, including email newsletters
Weather and other alerts of changing conditions
Notification of additions of new items to a database, or new members to a group
One RSS aggregator is all that you need to read all of the RSS feeds, be they headlines, alerts, changes, or other notifications. RSS is shaping up to be a very popular and useful means for communicating
Want more traffic? An easy way to distribute your news? Then you need an RSS news feed. To start all you need is content you want broadcast, and one RSS text file.
What is RSS?
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content. Think of it as a distributable "What's New" for your site. Originated by UserLand in 1997 and subsequently used by Netscape to fill channels for Netcenter, RSS has evolved into a popular means of sharing content between sites (including the BBC, CNET, CNN, Disney, Forbes, Motley Fool, Wired, Red Herring, Salon, Slashdot, ZDNet, and more). RSS solves myriad problems webmasters commonly face, such as increasing traffic, and gathering and distributing news. RSS can also be the basis for additional content distribution services.
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 tag, which contains a headline TITLE, URL, and DESCRIPTION. Here's an example:
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
...
Each RSS channel can contain up to 15 items and is easily parsed using Perl or other open source software. If you want more details on creating RSS files see Jonathan Eisenzopf's excellent article in the February issue of Web Techniques. But you don't have to worry about the details, we've made it easy to create your own RSS channel with free open source scripts, all Web based. More on these later.
Once you've created and validated your RSS text file, register it at the various aggregators, and watch the hits roll in. Any site can now grab and display your feed regularly, driving traffic your way. Update your RSS file, and all the external sites that subscribe to your feed will be automatically updated. What can be easier? But wait, there's more.
Contents
RSS content can be read using software called an "RSS reader," "feed reader" or an "aggregator." The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds.
The initials "RSS" are used to refer to the following formats:
Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)
RDF Site Summary (RSS 1.0 and RSS 0.90)
Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)
RSS formats are specified using XML, a generic specification for the creation of data formats.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Incompatibilities
3 Modules
4 BitTorrent and RSS
5 Examples
5.1 RSS 1.0
5.2 RSS 2.0
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
8.1 Specifications
8.2 Articles
[edit] History
Screenshot of an RSS feed in Safari 2.0.4The RSS formats were preceded by several attempts at syndication that did not achieve widespread popularity. The basic idea of restructuring information about web sites goes back to at least 1995, when Ramanathan V. Guha and others in Apple Computer's Advanced Technology Group developed the Meta Content Framework (MCF)[2]. For a more detailed discussion of these early developments, see the history of web syndication technology.
RDF Site Summary, the first version of RSS, was created by Guha at Netscape in March 1999 for use on the My.Netscape.Com portal. This version became known as RSS 0.9.[3] In July 1999, Dan Libby of Netscape produced a new version, RSS 0.91[4], that simplified the format by removing RDF elements and incorporating elements from Dave Winer's scriptingNews syndication format.[5] Libby also renamed RSS to Rich Site Summary and outlined further development of the format in a "futures document."[6]
This would be Netscape's last participation in RSS development for eight years. As RSS was being embraced by web publishers who wanted their feeds to be used on My.Netscape.Com and other early RSS portals, Netscape dropped RSS support from My.Netscape.Com in April 2001 during new owner AOL's restructuring of the company, also removing documentation and tools that supported the format.[7]
Two entities emerged to fill the void, neither with Netscape's help or approval: The RSS-DEV Working Group and Winer, whose UserLand Software had published some of the first publishing tools outside of Netscape that could read and write RSS.
Winer published a modified version of the RSS 0.91 specification on the UserLand web site, covering how it was being used in his company's products, and claimed copyright to the document.[8] A few months later, UserLand filed a U.S. trademark registration for RSS, but failed to respond to a USPTO trademark examiner's request and the request was rejected in December 2001.[9]
The RSS-DEV Working Group, a project whose members included Guha and representatives of O'Reilly Media and Moreover, produced RSS 1.0 in December 2000.[10] This new version, which reclaimed the name RDF Site Summary from RSS 0.9, reintroduced support for RDF and added XML namespaces support, adopting elements from standard metadata vocabularies such as Dublin Core.
In December 2000, Winer released RSS 0.92[11] a minor set of changes aside from the introduction of the enclosure element, which permitted audio files to be carried in RSS feeds and helped spark podcasting. He also released drafts of RSS 0.93 and RSS 0.94 that were subsequently withdrawn.[12]
In September 2002, Winer released a major new version of the format, RSS 2.0, that redubbed its initials Really Simple Syndication. RSS 2.0 removed the type attribute added in the RSS 0.94 draft and added support for namespaces.
Because neither Winer nor the RSS-DEV Working Group had Netscape's involvement, they could not make an official claim on the RSS name or format. This has fueled ongoing controversy in the syndication development community as to which entity was the proper publisher of RSS.
One product of that contentious debate was the creation of a rival syndication format, Atom, that began in June 2003. The Atom syndication format, whose creation was in part motivated by a desire to get a clean start free of the issues surrounding RSS, has been adopted as an IETF standard.
In July 2003, Winer and UserLand Software assigned the copyright of the RSS 2.0 specification to Harvard's Berkman Center for the Internet & Society, where he had just begun a term as a visiting fellow.[13] At the same time, Winer launched the RSS Advisory Board with Brent Simmons and Jon Udell, a group whose purpose was to maintain and publish the specification and answer questions about the format.[14]
In December 2005, the Microsoft Internet Explorer team and Outlook team announced on their blogs that they were adopting the feed icon first used in the Mozilla Firefox browser . A few months later, Opera Software followed suit. This effectively made the orange square with white radio waves the industry standard for RSS and Atom feeds, replacing the large variety of icons and text that had been used previously to identify syndication data.
In January 2006, RSS Advisory Board chairman Rogers Cadenhead announced that eight new members had joined the group, continuing the development of the RSS format and resolving ambiguities in the RSS 2.0 specification. Netscape developer Chris Finke joined the board in March 2007, the company's first involvement in RSS since the publication of RSS 0.91. In June 2007, the board revised its version of the specification to confirm that namespaces may extend core elements with namespace attributes, as Microsoft has done in Internet Explorer 7. In its view, a difference of interpretation left publishers unsure of whether this was permitted or forbidden.
[edit] Incompatibilities
As noted above, there are several different versions of RSS, falling into two major branches (RDF and 2.*). The RDF, or RSS 1.* branch includes the following versions:
RSS 0.90 was the original Netscape RSS version. This RSS was called RDF Site Summary, but was based on an early working draft of the RDF standard, and was not compatible with the final RDF Recommendation.
RSS 1.0 is an open format by the RSS-DEV Working Group, again standing for RDF Site Summary. RSS 1.0 is an RDF format like RSS 0.90, but not fully compatible with it, since 1.0 is based on the final RDF 1.0 Recommendation.
RSS 1.1 is also an open format and is intended to update and replace RSS 1.0. The specification is an independent draft not supported or endorsed in any way by the RSS-Dev Working Group or any other organization.
The RSS 2.* branch (initially UserLand, now Harvard) includes the following versions:
RSS 0.91 is the simplified RSS version released by Netscape, and also the version number of the simplified version championed by Dave Winer from Userland Software. The Netscape version was now called Rich Site Summary, this was no longer an RDF format, but was relatively easy to use. It remains the most common RSS variant.
RSS 0.92 through 0.94 are expansions of the RSS 0.91 format, which are mostly compatible with each other and with Winer's version of RSS 0.91, but are not compatible with RSS 0.90. In all Userland RSS 0.9x specifications, RSS was no longer an acronym.
RSS 2.0.1 has the internal version number 2.0. RSS 2.0.1 was proclaimed to be "frozen," but still updated shortly after release without changing the version number. RSS now stood for Really Simple Syndication. The major change in this version is an explicit extension mechanism using XML Namespaces.
For the most part, later versions in each branch are backward-compatible with earlier versions (aside from non-conformant RDF syntax in 0.90), and both versions include properly documented extension mechanisms using XML Namespaces, either directly (in the 2.* branch) or through RDF (in the 1.* branch). Most syndication software supports both branches. Mark Pilgrim's article "The Myth of RSS Compatibility" discusses RSS version compatibility in more detail.
The extension mechanisms make it possible for each branch to track innovations in the other. For example, the RSS 2.* branch was the first to support enclosures, making it the current leading choice for podcasting, and as of mid-2005 is the format supported for that use by iTunes and other podcasting software; however, an enclosure extension is now available for the RSS 1.* branch, mod_enclosure. Likewise, the RSS 2.* core specification does not support providing full-text in addition to a synopsis, but the RSS 1.* markup can be (and often is) used as an extension. There are also several common outside extension packages available, including a new proposal from Microsoft for use in Internet Explorer 7.
The most serious compatibility problem is with HTML markup. Userland's RSS reader—generally considered as the reference implementation—did not originally filter out HTML markup from feeds. As a result, publishers began placing HTML markup into the titles and descriptions of items in their RSS feeds. This behavior has become expected of readers, to the point of becoming a de facto standard, though there is still some inconsistency in how software handles this markup, particularly in titles. The RSS 2.0 specification was later updated to include examples of entity-encoded HTML, however all prior plain text usages remain valid.
[edit] Modules
The primary objective of all RSS modules is to extend the basic XML schema established for more robust syndication of content. This inherently allows for more diverse, yet standardized, transactions without modifying the core RSS specification.
To accomplish this extension, a tightly controlled vocabulary (in the RSS world, "module"; in the XML world, "schema") is declared through an XML namespace to give names to concepts and relationships between those concepts.
Some RSS 2.0 modules with established namespaces:
Ecommerce RSS 2.0 Module
Media RSS 2.0 Module
OpenSearch RSS 2.0 Module
[edit] BitTorrent and RSS
The peer-to-peer application BitTorrent has also announced support for RSS. Such feeds (also known as Torrent/RSS-es or Torrentcasts) will allow client applications to download files automatically from the moment the RSS reader detects them (also known as Broadcatching). Most common BitTorrent clients already offer RSS support.
RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it's not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS: the "recent changes" page of a wiki, a changelog of CVS checkins, even the revision history of a book. Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-aware program can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate way.
RSS-aware programs called news aggregators are popular in the weblogging community. Many weblogs make content available in RSS. A news aggregator can help you keep up with all your favorite weblogs by checking their RSS feeds and displaying new items from each of them.
A brief history
But coders beware. The name "RSS" is an umbrella term for a format that spans several different versions of at least two different (but parallel) formats. The original RSS, version 0.90, was designed by Netscape as a format for building portals of headlines to mainstream news sites. It was deemed overly complex for its goals; a simpler version, 0.91, was proposed and subsequently dropped when Netscape lost interest in the portal-making business. But 0.91 was picked up by another vendor, UserLand Software, which intended to use it as the basis of its weblogging products and other web-based writing software.
In the meantime, a third, non-commercial group split off and designed a new format based on what they perceived as the original guiding principles of RSS 0.90 (before it got simplified into 0.91). This format, which is based on RDF, is called RSS 1.0. But UserLand was not involved in designing this new format, and, as an advocate of simplifying 0.90, it was not happy when RSS 1.0 was announced. Instead of accepting RSS 1.0, UserLand continued to evolve the 0.9x branch, through versions 0.92, 0.93, 0.94, and finally 2.0.
What a mess.
So which one do I use?
That's 7 -- count 'em, 7! -- different formats, all called "RSS". As a coder of RSS-aware programs, you'll need to be liberal enough to handle all the variations. But as a content producer who wants to make your content available via syndication, which format should you choose?
RSS versions and recommendations Version Owner Pros Status Recommendation
0.90 Netscape Obsoleted by 1.0 Don't use
0.91 UserLand Drop dead simple Officially obsoleted by 2.0, but still quite popular Use for basic syndication. Easy migration path to 2.0 if you need more flexibility
0.92, 0.93, 0.94 UserLand Allows richer metadata than 0.91 Obsoleted by 2.0 Use 2.0 instead
1.0 RSS-DEV Working Group RDF-based, extensibility via modules, not controlled by a single vendor Stable core, active module development Use for RDF-based applications or if you need advanced RDF-specific modules
2.0 UserLand Extensibility via modules, easy migration path from 0.9x branch Stable core, active module development Use for general-purpose, metadata-rich syndication
What does RSS look like?
Imagine you want to write a program that reads RSS feeds, so that you can publish headlines on your site, build your own portal or homegrown news aggregator, or whatever. What does an RSS feed look like? That depends on which version of RSS you're talking about. Here's a sample RSS 0.91 feed (adapted from XML.com's RSS feed):
XML.com
http://www.xml.com/
XML.com features a rich mix of information and services for the XML community.
In this second and final look at applying relational normalization techniques to W3C XML Schema data modeling, Will Provost discusses when not to normalize, the scope of uniqueness and the fourth and fifth normal forms.
The .NET Schema Object Model
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/04/som.html
Priya Lakshminarayanan describes in detail the use of the .NET Schema Object Model for programmatic manipulation of W3C XML Schemas.
SVG's Past and Promising Future
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/04/svg.html
In this month's SVG column, Antoine Quint looks back at SVG's journey through 2002 and looks forward to 2003.
Simple, right? A feed comprises a channel, which has a title, link, description, and (optional) language, followed by a series of items, each of which have a title, link, and description.
Now look at the RSS 1.0 version of the same information:
In this second and final look at applying relational normalization techniques to W3C XML Schema data modeling, Will Provost discusses when not to normalize, the scope of uniqueness and the fourth and fifth normal forms.
Will Provost
2002-12-04
The .NET Schema Object Model
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/04/som.html
Priya Lakshminarayanan describes in detail the use of the .NET Schema Object Model for programmatic manipulation of W3C XML Schemas.
Priya Lakshminarayanan
2002-12-04
SVG's Past and Promising Future
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/04/svg.html
In this month's SVG column, Antoine Quint looks back at SVG's journey through 2002 and looks forward to 2003.
Antoine Quint
2002-12-04
Quite a bit more verbose. People familiar with RDF will recognize this as an XML serialization of an RDF document; the rest of the world will at least recognize that we're syndicating essentially the same information. In fact, we're including a bit more information: item-level authors and publishing dates, which RSS 0.91 does not support.
2007-11-06 05:26:04 UTC
RSS is a standard format for syndicating content on the Internet. The content can be anything! Often information contained in an RSS feed is syndicated on other sites which expands its reach.
Website visitors love RSS because they choose which feeds they wish to subscribe to, if at any point they are unhapy with the content contained in the RSS feed they simply unsubscribe and no longer receive notification of feed updates.
RSS is really a win, win for both subscribers and publishers.
In order to get a better understanding of how RSS works download an RSS reader or use a web aggregator and subscribe to an RSS feed (they are usually indicated by a small orange icon).
Eric Inri
2007-11-06 10:25:24 UTC
Try searching for an "RSS Directory" in the search engine.
YouTube has videos explaining RSS.
You can display and provide links for your Y!A questions, your starred questions, and the news that interests you on your Y!360 and MySpace pages with an RSS feed.
The feed for my questions in MySpace updates faster than the one in my Y!360.
This website is for displaying RSS feeds in MySpace.
http://rssonmyspace.com
It provides links to the RSS source.
This website is for displaying RSS feeds in MySpace, Blogger, html, email, Google, Friendster, Hi5, and Xanga.
http://springwidgets.com/express/getFeed/
It displays images but does not provide links to the RSS source.
For Y!360:
Find your list of questions.
To the right of your most recent question you will see the RSS link.
Click on it with the right button then left click on copy shortcut (URL).
Or you can double click the RSS link and then copy the URL from your address bar.
In your Y!360 click "My Page."
http://360.yahoo.com/
Click "Add a Feed (via RSS)" or click "Edit Feeds."
Right click on one of the three boxes then left click on paste (the short cut - URL).
Then save.
You can also display information from:
Yahoo! News (for specific subjects like your state, country, or corporation)
http://news.yahoo.com/rss
MSN News
BBC News
Craigslist, Digg, Netflix, YouTube, and many periodicals,
and blogs from MySpace, Y!360 and other blog websites.
The RSS link for Y!360 blogs is in the orange box at the bottom of the blog page.
Rainbow
2007-11-06 01:48:41 UTC
Repetitive Strain Syndrome. It's an injury caused by overuse, and it often affects people such as musicians and typists. It causes pain and weakness in the wrists and fingers.
Debra S
2007-11-06 01:44:09 UTC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)
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