What is RSS?

RSS is a family of XML based file formats used largely by weblogs and new sites, and generally on many sites that update on a regular basis.

The abbreviation RSS does not refer to one thing, it is used to refer to the following three standards:

• Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)
• RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0)
• Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0.0)

This specialised software will be able to interpret the machine readable XML code and display it in a convenient way for the user. There are no rules for how RSS delivered content should be displayed, and many different applications take their own approach.

The beauty of RSS is that it allows users to stay up-to-date without having to manually visit sites in order to check for new content.

Problems with RSS

Unfortunately, RSS does have its flaws. As there are several versions of it currently in use across the web, there are some compatibility issues, with feeds falling into one of two branches, either the RSS 1.* branch, or the RSS 2.* branch.

The RSS 1.* branch is comprised of 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 and 1.1 are 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.

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.

Solutions to RSS Problems

In response to the possible problems that users may face with RSS, a third style of feed was created, named Atom.

Many sites that offer RSS feeds now also offer Atom feeds allowing the user to choose between the formats at a time when there is debate over the use of Atom or RSS.

Supporters of Atom claim that it improves on both branches of RSS as it relies heavily on some of the more standard XML features, whereas opponents claim that it simply confuses matters (and users) by introducing a third set of technical specifications.

Uses of RSS and Atom

There are currently many services using RSS and Atom feeds and for a variety of different purposes.

For example:

• The BBC is one of the early uses of RSS and uses it as a method of distributing world-news to users through its BBC News service.
• Apple uses RSS 2 for its podcast management in iTunes. The use of RSS allows it to easily update the iTunes podcast directory when new podcasts are published.
• Google uses Atom feeds on its popular Blogger service and also on its GMail service allowing users to view their latest emails via an Atom subscription.
• FeedBurner is a free service that works with existing RSS or Atom feeds to produce a new feed for a site. By having users subscribe to this new feed instead of the original, users are able to easily manage their feeds from within FeedBurner, which gives webmasters the ability to see how many users are subscribing to their feeds and publicise their feed, among other things.

Useful Links

• RSS 1.0 Specification
• RSS 2.0 Specification
• RSS and Atom Compared
• An in-depth look at Atom

Tags

atom, feeds, rss, syndication

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