RSS Really Simple Syndication

Overview RSS is a web content syndication format RSS documents are XML and must conform to the xml 1.0 recommendation RSS files are used to keep subscribers informed about the most recent updates to news, blogs, discussion groups, site postings, etc.

Versions of RSS First began as scripting news in 1997 RSS 0.90 was designed for use with Netscape 1999(had an RDF header) RSS 0.91 (1999) more standard, no RDF header RSS 0.92 which is 0.91 with optional elements RSS 1.0, Developed by a private group at O’Reilly –again has an RDF header (2000) RSS 2.0 –basically a modification of 0.92 (2003)

Basics of RSS 2.0 The root element of the document is It has no namespaces, though namespaces can be added to accommodate extensions to rss and inclusion of other xml vocabularies The element has a single child, the element

The Element The element can contain several elements. Most contain metadata about the rss feed Three elements are required and several are optional Additionally the element contains one or more elements The elements contain the description and links of the syndicated content

Required Elements of Required Elements of ElementDescriptionExample titleThe name of the channel NPR topics: News linkThe URL to the website corresponding to the channel descriptionA few words describing the channel Current news stories from NPR

Optional Elements of Optional Elements of ElementDescriptionExample languageThe language the channel is written in en-us copyrightCopyright noticeCopyright 2007 NPR managingEditor address for person responsible for editorial content webMaster for the web master pubDatePublication date. Conforms to RFC 82 Sat, 07 Sep :00:01 GMT lastBuildDateDate of last buildSat, 07 Sep :00:01 GMT categorySpecify one or more categories that the feed belongs to Science

Optional Elements Continued ElementDescriptionExample generatorA string indicating the generator used to generate the channel MightyInHouse Content System v2.3 docsA URL that points to the documentation for the format used cloudAllows a processor to register with the cloud to be notified of updates to the channel ttlTime to live in minutes 60 imageSpecifies an image that can be displayed with the feed

Optional Elements (End) ElementDescriptionExample ratingThe PICs rating for the channel textInputSpecifies a text input box that can be displayed with the channel skipHoursA hint for aggregators about what hours they can skip skipDaysThe same for days

The Element A channel many contain any number of items The items may represent a link to a story or a resource or they may be complete in themselves All child elements of are optional however at minimum at least a title or description must be present

Elements of Elements of ElementDescriptionExample titleThe title of the itemMars Phoenix successfully lands near polar ice cap linkThe URL of the itemhttp:// /mars/phoenix descriptionThe description of the item (can contain entity escaped html) At 5:45 this afternoon eastern time the Phoenix probe entered the Martian atmospher author address of the author categoryIncludes the item in a category

Elements of Continued ElementDescriptionExample commentsURL for a page of comments related to the item enclosureDescription of media object attached to item guidString that uniquely identifies the item m/2002/09/01.php#a 2 pubDatePublication date of the item sourceRss channel that the item came from

RSS Example Channel Metainformation Lift Off News Liftoff to Space Exploration. en-us Tue, 10 Jun :00:00 GMT Tue, 10 Jun :41:01 GMT Weblog Editor

RSS Example Items Star City How do Americans get ready to work with Russians aboard the International Space Station? They take a crash course in culture, language and protocol at Russia's Star City. Tue, 03 Jun :39:21 GMT Space Exploration Sky watchers in Europe, Asia, and parts of Alaska and Canada will experience a partial eclipse of the Sun on Saturday, May 31st. Fri, 30 May :06:42 GMT

Reference Much of the material for this slide show came from Theirs is the definitive document for defining RSS 2.0