Must Know: XML is Hot, RSS Hotter
Thinking syndication? Better find out all about it, as RSS is the dominant XML format for distributing headlines.
by Paola Di Maio
30 March 2001, 1 pm GMT
I have been lurking around technical usergroups lately, to learn a bit more of certain aspects of content implementations.
There's always hope.
About a year ago, I wrote about XML for the first time, as WML was promising universal wireless delivery functionality.
XML has gone a long way since then.
Things move quicker than ever.
The other day Mike Krus of Newsisfree asked me ‘Do you have an RSS feed for us to pick up?” Uh… Do we?
Sent email to techwiz who is developing the site and asked him. “Do we do RSS?“
He said we’ll have soon because that seems the way the industry is going.
But I hadn't heard about it before as such, nor had many of my coleagues and business partners. Harken all.
So, what the heck is RSS, what does it look like and what can it do for you?
The Rich Site Summary (RSS) format apparently was previously known as the RDF Site Summary, and it is becoming the dominant format for distributing news headlines on the Web.
According to Jonathan Eisenzopf, Netscape invented the RSS format for "channels" on Netscape Netcenter.
They released information on the format in March of 1999.
The first non-Netscape Web site to incorporate the new format was Scripting News, a popular technology news site run by Dave Winer, of Userland Software. Dave has been developing XML and derivatives for years.
"Actually scriptingNews serves the same purpose as RSS but it is completely
incompatible with it. It's an experiment to fix the problems with RSS .9 " says Krus.
Now there is a RSS 1.0 proposal developed to meet the growing requirements
for flexibility and ability to share
See the spec
Because RSS 1.0 can be easily extended, in addition to the rss0.91 module, a number of core modules have been proposed for the Dublin Core, Syndication,Taxonomy, and Aggregation, all of which are available, says Eisenzopf.
"Main point is that it is extendible via name"
adds Krus (Not that I know what that meanz, but we'll save this for later).
RSS could well be the most widely used XML format on the Web today, RSS headlines are available for many popular news sites like Slashdot, Forbes, and and the list is growing
"Don't think that CNET does its RSS. Moreover scrapes CNET and writes the RSS" adds Krus.
Many websites have now adopted the format for everything from syndicating news feeds to threaded messages.
And yes, there are plenty of tools out there for you to do the same like RSS
Maker and Newsisfree.
Try it
So if RSS is the password to the future of syndicated content, then we should
know about it.
Check out Content-Wire RSS feed
on newsisfree.com, courtesy of Krus.
And don't forget to do your reading.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Magnoliacom
Newsvine
Furl
Google
Yahoo
Technorati
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