RSS feeds

[dasein668]

Looking for feedback about the way people browse the web.

[bcooke]

Are you going to explain RSS feeds at the end of this pole or must the little people remain in ignorance? Rumor has it your boat is coming out soon for a serious winter of upgrades.

-Britton

[dasein668]

RSS stands for either Rich Site Summary or Rich Site Syndication (depending on who you ask...) An RSS feed is simply a small XML file which summarizes information about a web site in a particular way. It is most frequently used to define updated data on a site, especially a site with frequent updates such as a blog, news site, or similar.

With an RSS reader?either a stand alone program or a plugin for your web browser?you can get all the syndicated content delivered in a neat, easy-to-read package which summarizes each update and provides a direct link to the new content on the site.

This is handy if you regularly check in on a number of sites with frequent updates. Instead of going to each site manually and sifting through the site for the updated content, you simply get a list of new content at each site with a summary for each item and a direct link. Slick.

With an RSS feed one can also syndicate their content to another site. For example, if Tim had a feed I could essentially "subscribe" and actually have an automatically updated listing of new content on his site with direct links. This is one way that many web portals can provide such diverse and timely content on their pages?they can syndicate content from various sites, (for example: the BBC, New York Times, NASA, and NOAA).

Britton, yes, the boat is now out of the water. Definite projects for this winter are painting the hull, replacing the toe-rail, and pulling the engine for a major overhaul. Other projects are pending...