A
Guide to RSS Aggregators
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One
of the most popular features of Internet portals, websites, pages and
even emails is a frame that features an organized list of news
headlines and periodic updates from other web sources. Really
Simple Syndication, formerly ?Rich Site Summary? or simply, RSS makes
this possible.
Most users visit a lot of
websites whose
content continually change, such as news sites, community organization
or professional association information pages, medical websites,
product support pages, and blogs. As Internet surfing became
an
intrinsic part of business and leisure, it became important to get rid
of the very tedious task of repeatedly returning to each website to see
updated content.
RSS easily distributes
information from
different websites to a wider number of Internet users. RSS
aggregators are programs that use RSS to source these updates, and then
organize those lists of headlines, content and notices for easy
reading. It allows computers to automatically retrieve and
read
the content that users want, then track changes and personalize lists
of headlines that interests them.
The specially made
computer
programs called ?RSS aggregators? were created to automatically find
and retrieve the RSS feeds of pre-selected internet sites on behalf of
the user and organize the results accordingly. (RSS feeds and
aggregators are also sometimes referred to as "RSS Channels" and "RSS
Readers".)
The RSS aggregator is like a web browser
for RSS
content. HTML presents information directly to users, and RSS
automatically lets computers communicate with one another.
While
users use browsers to surf the web then load and view each page of
interest, RSS aggregators keeps track of changes to many
websites. The titles or descriptions are links themselves and
can
be used to load the web page the user wants.
RSS
starts with an
original Web site that has content made available by the
administrator. The website creates an RSS document and
registers
this content with an RSS publisher that will allow other websites to
syndicate the documents. The Web site also produces an RSS
feed,
or channel, which is available together with all other resources or
documents on the particular Web server. The website will
register
the feed as an RSS document, with a listed directory of appropriate RSS
publishers.
An RSS feed is composed of website
content listed
from newest to oldest. Each item usually consists of a simple
title describing the item along with a more complete description and a
link to a web page with the actual content being described.
In
some instances, the short description or title line is the all the
updated information that a user wants to read (for example, final games
scores in sports, weblogs post, or stock updates).
Therefore, it is not even necessary to have a web page associated with
the content or update items listed -- sometimes all the needed
information that users need would be in the titles and short summaries
themselves.
The RSS content is located in a single
file on a
webpage in a manner not very different from typical web
pages.
The difference is that the information is written in the XML computer
code for use by an RSS aggregator and not by a web user like a normal
HTML page.
There are 2 main parts that are
involved in RSS syndication, namely: the source end and the
client end.
The
client end of RSS publishing makes up part of the system that gathers
and uses the RSS feed. For example, Mozilla FireFox browser
is
typically at the client end of the RSS transaction. A user?s
desktop RSS aggregator program also belongs to the client end.
Once
the URL of an RSS feed is known, a user can give that address to an RSS
aggregator program and have the aggregator monitor the RSS feed for
changes. Numerous RSS aggregators are already preconfigured
with
a ready list of RSS feed URLs for popular news or information websites
that a user can simply choose from.
There are many
RSS
aggregators that can be used by all Internet users. Some can
be
accessed through the Internet, some are already incorporated into email
applications, and others run as a standalone program inside the
personal computer.
RSS feeds have evolved into
many uses. Some uses gaining popularity are:
·For
online store or retail establishments: Notification of new
product arrivals
·For organization or association
newsletters: title listings and notification of new issues,
including email newsletters
·Weather Updates and other
alerts of changing geographic conditions
·Database
management: Notification of new items added, or new
registered members to a club or interest group.
The
uses of feeds will continue to grow, because RSS aggregators make
access to any information that individual users like more convenient
and fun.
Copyright ©
Ferdinand Martinez
About
the Author
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ferdinand
Martinez is the owner of the HomeBiz-Resources
Website. To
find the best home based business
ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home
visit:
http://www.HomeBiz-Resources.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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