Defintion
RSS is a defined standard for syndicating headlines and other content.
RSS is created using XML or eXtensible Markup Language, which is a markup language
similar to HTML. All fields are defined. Tags are used to denote the field’s classification.
Like HTML, proper construction requires that tags are both opened and closed.
Example: <title> Title of Item in Feed </title>
RSS has been around for more than a decade, but only recently the standard has been
embraced by bloggers, webmasters and large news portals as a means of distributing
Information, in a standardized format.
RSS as a means of communication:
Email is burdened with:
– SPAM – messages are often deleted or are filtered because of cluttered mailboxes
– Viruses – more and more legitimate messages are not reaching their destination
due to the proliferation of viruses.
Benefits of RSS:
– Opt-In – users elect which feeds which they subscribe to.
– Syndication – RSS is a defined standard for syndicating content, feeds extend reach
– Content – steady stream of fresh web content
– Aggregation – users can quickly scan multiple content streams and click on items of
interest saving time
– Traffic – increased exposure and traffic for web sites
Initially RSS was restricted to News Headlines. As RSS’ popularity has increased the uses
for RSS have expanded.
Common uses for RSS include:
Blogs – summaries of daily blog posts
Newsletters – synopses of newsletters alerting users that a new newsletter is available
Weather Alerts – notification of severe weather
Press Announcements – new product announcements
Specials or Discounts – weekly deals or discount offers for customers
Calendars – listings of upcoming events, deadlines or holidays
Common Industry specific uses for RSS include:
Service Industry – notification of viruses or security alerts
Real Estate – listings of open houses or new homes on the market
Schools – homework listings
Restaurants – lunch or dinner specials
Law Enforcement – announce crimes in area
RSS feeds can be created using :
a text editor
RSS ready CMS such as Documentum Webpublisher
In order to use a text editor you must be familiar with all of the fields and accepted formats.
Simple XML-based format.
Relies on items being specified in a standard XML (plain text) format.
Best practices for RSS Creation
- Title should be meaningful
Between 50 – 100 characters or between five and ten words
Typically the title of the web site or feed, instead of “RSS” or “Atom”. - Description should be concise Should be around 300 characters, approximately 50 words
Not to exceed 500 characters approximately 80 words. - Choose the number of items in the feed carefully. No more than 20 items per feed
- Enabling Auto Discovery on RSS landing page. <link> tags must be added to the <head> section of the page. For example, <link rel=”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml” title=“abc.com: Top Stories” href=”http://www.abc.com/my_topstories.rss” mce_href=”http://www.abc.com/my_topstories.rss”/>
Once a Feed is created, you have a number of options.
The feed can be posted on the website with a graphic signifying that a feed exists.
Feeds can be exported to HTML or HTML tables and included in thewebsite.
RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS search engines. There is a large list at: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm
Feed Publishing
Basic approach: simply post XML file on our site
Pros: simple, maintain control
Cons: more work to manage, stats hard to obtain
Advanced approach: publish feed using FeedBurner
Pros: advance feed management, stats readily available
Cons: more work to implement, loss of control
Take your original feed (feed.xml) and rename it (originalfeed.xml) setup your feedBurner feed to read off originalfeed.xml Do a 302 redirect from your original feed address (feed.xml) and point it toward feedBurner .htaccess
Redirect temp /feed.xml http://feeds.feedburner.com/YourNewfeedBurnerfeed
This way if you ever want to leave feedBurner and use another service all your subscriber’s aggregators will still be pointing to your site’s URI. You just remove the 302 redirect and point it to the new service.
Pings
Ping= notifying aggregators, search engines, directories of feed updates
Manual pings using services like
pingomatic.com
pingoat.com
bloglines.com/ping
apple.com/itunes/store/podcaststechspecs.html
Automated pings
programmatic via CMS
FeedBurner PingShot
How do I read RSS feeds?
RSS feeds can be read primarily in three different ways.
- Desktop RSS feed reader or news aggregator
- Web based RSS feed reader
- E-mail based
Desktop Feed Readers
There are a number of desktop RSS Readers available like FeedDemon
http://www.feeddemon.com
A large list of RSS feed readers is available at:
http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-software.htm
To subscribe to a specific RSS feed, simply enter the url of the RSS file into the software, the extension is usually .xml or .rss
Web based Feed Readers
Bloglines – Currently the most popular in this category.
Newsgator – Allows for delivery of content to Outlook.
Litefeeds – good for PDAs & Mobile Phones
Google Reader
Netvibes
Personalized Google Page
My Yahoo! Page
Netvibes
IE 7
Firefox
“Other” Ways to read RSS feeds?
Apart from the three primary ways, people consume RSS feeds in different ways
- Directly from Browser
- Personalized “start” pages such as “My Yahoo” or Google.
- Live bookmarks
- Gadgets/Widgets
- Aggregation
- Remixing
This page has the following sub pages.
