RSS (protocol) - Definition

RSS or Really Simple Syndication is a family of XML-based communications standards with the following members:

• Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.9x and RSS 2.0)
• RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0) (RDF: Resource Description Framework)

Functionally, RSS (pronounced "arr-ess-ess") is a web syndication protocol primarily used by news websites and weblogs. A program known as an RSS aggregator or feed reader can check RSS-enabled webpages on behalf of a user and display any updated articles that it finds. RSS saves users from having to repeatedly visit favorite websites to check for new content or be notified of updates via email. Prominent websites featuring RSS .91 or 2.0 feeds include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, and CNET's News.com. Some search engines now specialize in retrieving RSS feeds.

Aggregators are typically constructed as extensions to a Web browser such as Mozilla Firefox, as extensions to an email program, or as standalone programs. An alternative to these dedicated packages are Web-based RSS aggregators such as found on My Yahoo, Yahoo!'s user-customizable Web page. Web-based aggregators require no software installation and make the user's "feeds" available on any computer with Web access.

As with all XML documents, RSS documents employ a set of tags that describe elements of the text. Usually there is a top-level <rss> or <rdf:RDF> tag. Since there are multiple RSS standards, these tags may differ from file to file. RSS standards are not backwards-compatible and have been developed by different people. A way out of this problem may be the upcoming Atom format.

RSS refers to multiple syndication protocols, which some observers say are incompatible (see The myth of RSS compatibility (http://diveintomark.org/archives/2004/02/04/incompatible-rss)). Others disagree, arguing that the underlying structure of RSS is that of XML (except for RSS 0.90) and therefore compatibility is achievable through stylesheet transformations (XSL / XSLT), which the RSS aggregator would apply anyway in order to make the RSS feed presentable to users. Developers of aggregators and publishers have hedged their bets by supporting multiple XML syndication standards

The status of RSS as of April 2004 is version 2.0.1.

See also: Atom (standard)

RSS clients

See news aggregator for a list of clients for various operating systems.

See also

For RSS feeds of Wikipedia content, see Wikipedia:Syndication

External links

• articles about RSS and RSS feeds (http://www.allrssfeeds.com)
• Everyfeed (http://www.everyfeed.com)
• Feeds Searcher/RSS Searcher (http://www.feedss.com/)
• Intro To RSS Video (http://www.rssdomination.com/video.htm)
• RSS 0.91 Spec, revision 3 (http://my.netscape.com/publish/formats/rss-spec-0.91.html)
• RSS 1.0 resources (http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/)
• RSS 2.0 specification (http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss)
• RSS readers (http://www.hebig.org/blogs/archives/main/000877.php)
• RSS described in plain English (http://www.commoncraft.com/archives/000528.html)
• RSS described again in plain English (http://rss.softwaregarden.com/aboutrss.html)
• Difference between blogs and RSS (http://radio.weblogs.com/0106327/stories/2004/01/27/whatsTheDifferenceBetweenB.html)
• RSS Tutorial for Content Publishers and Webmasters (http://www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/)
• Content feeds with RSS 2.0 (http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-rss20/) - good IBM Developerworks article on RSS 2.0
• List of RSS aggregators (http://www.rssreaders.net/)
• RSS History (http://goatee.net/2003/rss-history.html)
• Understanding RSS News Feeds (http://www.podcastingnews.com/articles/Understanding_RSS_Feeds.html) - a discussion of RSS and podcasting.
• The Role of RSS in Science Publishing (http://www.dlib.org/dlib/december04/hammond/12hammond.html) - reasons for using RSS 1.0
• AnyRSS (http://anyrss.maquis.org) - Create an RSS news feed for any topic.