What is RSS?

RSS:

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication

RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.

With RSS it is possible to distribute up-to-date web content from one web site to thousands of other web sites around the world.

RSS allows fast browsing for news and updates.

RSS allows you to syndicate your site content

RSS defines an easy way to share and view headlines and content

RSS files can be automatically updated

RSS allows personalized views for different sites

RSS is written in XML

Who Should use RSS:

Webmasters who seldom update their web sites do not need RSS!

RSS is useful for web sites that are updated frequently, like:

News sites - Lists news with title, date and descriptions

Companies - Lists news and new products

Calendars - Lists upcoming events and important days

Site changes - Lists changed pages or new pages

Benefits of RSS:

Choose your news : With RSS you can choose to view the news you want, the news that interest you and are relevant to your work. Remove unwanted information : With RSS you can (finally) separate wanted information from unwanted information (spam)!

Increase your site traffic : With RSS you can create your own news channel, and publish it to the Internet

What RSS Version Should I Use:

RSS 0.91 and RSS 2.0 are easier to understand than RSS 1.0. Our tutorial is based on RSS 2.0.

Is There an RSS Web Standard?

There is no official standard for RSS.

About 50 % of all RSS feeds use RSS 0.91

About 25 % use RSS 1.0

The last 25 % is split between RSS 0.9x versions and RSS 2.0

How RSS Works

RSS is used to share content between websites.

With RSS, you register your content with companies called aggregators.

So, to be a part of it: First, create an RSS document and save it with an .xml extension. Then, upload the file to your website. Next, register with an RSS aggregator. Each day the aggregator searches the registered websites for RSS documents, verifies the link, and displays information about the feed so clients can link to documents that interests them.

RSS Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>

<rss version="2.0">

<channel>

  <title>W3Schools Home Page</title>

  <link>http://www.w3schools.com</link>

  <description>Free web building tutorials</description>

  <item>

    <title>RSS Tutorial</title>

    <link>http://www.w3schools.com/rss</link>

    <description>New RSS tutorial on W3Schools</description>

  </item>

  <item>

    <title>XML Tutorial</title>

    <link>http://www.w3schools.com/xml</link>

    <description>New XML tutorial on W3Schools</description>

  </item>

</channel>

</rss>

Automated RSS:

If you don't want to update your RSS feed yourself, there are tools and services that can do it automatically for you, such as:

RSSpect - offers a free automated, reliable RSS service

For users who only need an RSS feed for their personal website, some of the most popular blog (Web Log) managers that offer built-in RSS services are:

·         Wordpress

·         Blogger

·         Radio

 

I have an RSS Reader. Now what:

Click on the little RSS or XML button next to the RSS feed you want to read. Copy The URL you get in the browser window and paste it in your RSS reader.