A short guide to RSS
Before continuing with other parts of the article, take your
time to read the following definitions:
RSS:
RSS, Rich Site Summary, or Really Simple Syndication, is an XML format for sharing content (such as news) between different websites.
Food:
It is an xml file that contains headlines and descriptions, also called a news feed, content feed, xml feed, or web feed.
Web Syndication:
Web syndication is a form of syndication in which a section of a website is made available for other sites to use. This could be simply licensing the content so that other people can use it, but more commonly these days, web syndication refers to making web fonts available.
XML:
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose markup language recommended by the W3C for creating special-purpose markup languages capable of describing many different types of data. Its main objective is to facilitate the exchange of data.
across different systems, in particular systems connected via the Internet.
Atom:
atom is a really small particle or XML based document format and HTTP based protocol designed for syndication of web content like weblogs (or blogs) and news headlines to websites as well as directly to user agents. It is based on the experience gained in using the various versions of RSS.
Now let’s move on to other parts of this article.
How does RSS work?
A website can allow other sites to publish its content by creating an RSS document and posting the document with an RSS editor.
Some benefits of using RSS:
1) Alternative to email
Even though you signed up for the email newsletter, you may be tired of all the spam you get. By subscribing to the RSS feed, you don’t need to worry about receiving any emails.
2) Faster than browsing the web page
RSS feeds are loosely coded and therefore reading RSS feeds is faster.
3) Search engine friendly
Being rich in content and keywords and also constantly updated, they are loved by major search engines like google, yahoo and alexa.
4) More exposure for your site
Unless regular messages are posted, RSS feeds are selected and monitored by feed readers and blog sites, such as weblog.com. This is similar to getting more targeted search engine traffic.
5) Content is delivered instantly
With RSS, content is instantly delivered to the reader based on their feed reader choices. RSS is an unfiltered content delivery system. All RSS articles are sent directly through your subscriber.
6) You can get listed in a matter of hours
You can index your site on yahoo and msn in a matter of hours, using RSS.
7) Easily unsubscribe
All RSS articles are also sent instantly. You can easily unsubscribe from the RSS feed and it’s as simple as pressing the delete key.
8) Compatibility with different types of media
RSS can support many types of media, including audio and video.
9) User-friendly options for editors
There are no subscribe or unsubscribe links for RSS publishers to watch out for.
What is required to read an RSS feed?
1) Internet connection
2) A Feed reader, to read the RSS feed from the RSS
channel (browser like Opera has a built-in feed reader)
3) If you are a publisher, then you need a way to publish your article.
To create an RSS feed, you must create an RSS file.
To create an RSS file, please read some tutorial by searching on google.
After creating the rss file, you must save it with either the .xml or .rss extension. After saving, you need to validate the RSS file, which you can do in
http://www.feedvalidator.org
After validating your RSS file, you must syndicate it. For this, you need to have a code that other webmasters can place on their websites and display your headlines. This code is usually a java script that the webmaster places on their site.
When someone clicks on the XML or RSS link, the RSS feeds (or XML feeds) are instantly downloaded to your computer.