All
You Need to Know About RSS
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What does RSS mean?
RSS
may mean three different things. The original RSS (RDF Site Summary RSS
0.9) was developed by Dan Libby for Netscape. After a couple of months,
they produced a simpler and easier-to-use version called Rich Site
Summary or RSS 0.91. But they later lost interest, leaving it without
an owner. As more and more users were using RSS, Winer made an adapted
version of RSS 0.91 for Userland, claiming it as his own. Later in
2005, Microsoft developed Really Simple Syndication in relation to its
Simple Sharing Extensions.
What
is RSS?
RSS
is a XML file format for syndicating content and news in the web. It is
usually used by websites that constantly need to update their content
regularly such as news websites (CNN, BBC and Reuters) and weblogs.
Since it essentially gives one?s webpage more traffic, it is now more
widely used in marketing, web publications and virus reports. Today,
large and small websites alike are usually RSS-enabled.
For
example, you?re an avid fan of baseball and you want to share something
recent about one of the players. Other than content, you can also
attach multimedia files, like videos or pictures. By using RSS feeds,
other Internet users subscribed to RSS-enabled sites can read your
?headline? for free. They can also track for changes and updates using
news aggregators, which will be discussed later on.
How does RSS work?
To
be able to use RSS, you first have to download a software (content
management system), by which XML format can be read. The title and,
excerpt of the article, and a link to the full article are shown. Other
than just text, you can also insert multimedia files in RSS feeds like
pictures, videos, mp3s and others. Broadcatching, picturecasting,
photocasting, and podcasting are some features you can incorporate into
your feed, but will not be discussed in this article.
For
users
to access a RSS feed, they need to use an aggregator or a feed reader.
An aggregator searches for updates on RSS-enabled webpages then
displays it. It can either be a standalone program or a web browser
extension, depending on your operating system. Search engines for web
content broadcasted over RSS feed are also available such as Plazoo and
Feedster.
How
can I make an RSS feed?
It
is definitely easier to make an RSS feed if you know HTML. If not, you
could sign up for a blog (there are hundreds out there), some of which
automatically creates RSS. If you?re using a personal webpage building
system, you need to understand more about RSS. Making an RSS feed from
scratch is relatively easy.
A RSS feed should
always contain
an ?item?, whichever version of RSS you might use. If you wrote about a
recent event in your city or a book review, the contents of this
article can form an item. An item is essentially composed of three
things: a title, its description, and link (where they can find your
webpage). In choosing a title and description, use something that will
describe the web content best. Although it will be easier for you, it
doesn?t follow that the title tag of your webpage and the item title
are the same.
An item will look like HTML tags.
First, you
need to put an opening channel tag that defines it as an XML file.
Then, label the tag as an item by putting <item> after
the
channel tag. After this, you can now insert the three essentials of
your item: <title>, <description>, and
<link>. Just
like HTML, we need to close the tag by writing </channel>
and
</rss> at the bottom.
An RSS feed
that contains multiple tags looks like this:
<?xml
version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<item>
<title>Anne
Rice?s Belinda: A Book Review</title>
<description>
If you haven?t read any Anne Rice books yet, you will be greeted with
shocking romantic relationships forming between unlikely characters?
</description>
<link>
http://allaboutbookreviews.com/belinda </link>
<item>
<title>Harry
Potter IV: Darker with More Deaths</title>
<description>
The recently released Harry Potter installation has proved dark for its
younger readers?</description>
<link>
http://allaboutbookreviews.com/harrypotterandthehalfbloodprince
</link>
</channel>
</rss>
Now,
if you?re still having a hard time understanding these tags, look for
HTML tags tutorial to further grasp the concept. Have 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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