Back to RSS basics
« It has been a while since we covered what RSS is really about. Inspired by a recent article by Sharon Housley of FeedForAll titled RSS does not equal blogs, we look at what RSS is really all about. What is RSS for? Believe me when I say people who are not into computers do not know what RSS is, more importantly they do not care. Most people are only aware of what the technology can do for them, in this case deliver news and information to their desktops. RSS is a format for packaging up information in a standard way that software can read and present to the user. How to use RSS RSS feeds can be used by publishers to deliver content to end users when the end user asks for it. It is the opposite to email where the end user get the email whether they have asked for it or not. Consumers of RSS use this technology to get information and have it presented to them in an organized way. The user can have all of their news information in one application. It makes it easier for people to keep up to date on what is happening around the web. RSS, RSS and RSS I have been told on more than one occasion that I write RSS too many times, every time I write about RSS. This is not intentional but it is hard to write about news feeds without writing RSS. RSS is not the same as email and it is not a replacement for email. I have said this many times. RSS is not exclusively for bloggers although RSS is more common in blogging circles because blogging software publishes RSS feeds by default. » Read More