Secrets of RSS

Secrets of RSS

By Steven Holzner

...............................................

Publisher: Peachpit Press

Pub Date: June 07, 2006

Print ISBN-10: 0-32142-622-3

Print ISBN-13: 978-0-321-42622-2

Pages: 344

Table of Contents | Index

Whether you want to create your own RSS feeds or just would like to locate and add them to your

Web site, this is the book for you. In the Secrets of RSS, author Steve Holzner provides real-world

guidance and advice to introduce you everything you need to know about effectively

implementing and using RSS: • How to connect to RSS feed, handle them, and track down what

you want • The difference between RSS and blogs, and how nearly every major RSS reader

works • How to design an RSS feed, what you'll find in RSS feeds, and formats and links •

Create your own first RSS feed from scratch:and subscribe to it • Putting RSS to work in the

real-world • The free tools and software available to help you create RSS files • Finding,

subscribing to, and creating podcasts • Spreading the word about your RSS feed • RSS best

practices • And more!

Secrets of RSS

By Steven Holzner

...............................................

Publisher: Peachpit Press

Pub Date: June 07, 2006

Print ISBN-10: 0-32142-622-3

Print ISBN-13: 978-0-321-42622-2

Pages: 344

Table of Contents | Index

Whether you want to create your own RSS feeds or just would like to locate and add them to your

Web site, this is the book for you. In the Secrets of RSS, author Steve Holzner provides real-world

guidance and advice to introduce you everything you need to know about effectively

implementing and using RSS: • How to connect to RSS feed, handle them, and track down what

you want • The difference between RSS and blogs, and how nearly every major RSS reader

works • How to design an RSS feed, what you'll find in RSS feeds, and formats and links •

Create your own first RSS feed from scratch:and subscribe to it • Putting RSS to work in the

real-world • The free tools and software available to help you create RSS files • Finding,

subscribing to, and creating podcasts • Spreading the word about your RSS feed • RSS best

practices • And more!

Secrets of RSS

By Steven Holzner

...............................................

Publisher: Peachpit Press

Pub Date: June 07, 2006

Print ISBN-10: 0-32142-622-3

Print ISBN-13: 978-0-321-42622-2

Pages: 344

Table of Contents | Index

Copyright

Introduction

Chapter 1. Gotta Get My RSS

What Is RSS?

How RSS Works

Good for Readers

Good for Publishers

RSS and Blogging

Podcasting Too

A Brief History of RSS

RSS Resources

Chapter 2. Grabbing RSS with Readers

Using an RSS Reader

What Kind of Reader Do You Want?

Online RSS Readers

Desktop RSS Readers

Finding RSS Feeds

Importing and Exporting RSS Feeds

Chapter 3. Creating RSS Feeds

Picking an RSS Format

Understanding an RSS Document

Creating RSS Feeds Online

Creating RSS on Your Computer

Uploading Your RSS Feed

Adding the XML Button

Validating Your RSS Feed

Chapter 4. Creating RSS Feeds from Scratch

An XML Primer

Writing RSS 0.91 Documents

Writing RSS 1.0 Documents

Writing RSS 2.0 Documents

Writing Atom Documents

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Chapter 5. Blogging with RSS

Blogging with Blogger

Blogging with LiveJournal

Blogging with TypePad

Blogging with Bloglines

Blogging with Yahoo

Chapter 6. Automating Creation of RSS Feeds

Creating RSS with Blogging Tools

Scraping RSS from HTML

Chapter 7. Podcasting: Adding Multimedia to Your Feeds

All About Podcasting

Creating a Podcast

Adding Enclosures to RSS Items

Using Dedicated Podcast Software

Downloading Podcasts

Finding Podcasts

Chapter 8. Publicizing Your Feeds

Using the XML Button

Getting Links to Your Page

Using Autodiscovery

Optimizing for Search Engines

Getting into Search Engines

Using RSS Feed Directories

Publicizing Your Podcast

Chapter 9. Converting RSS Feeds to a Web Site

Why Convert RSS Feeds to a Web Site?

Converting RSS to JavaScript

Using Server-Side Software

Converting RSS to HTML

Converting RSS to Applets with RSSViewerApplet

Handling RSS With Perl Scripts

Chapter 10. Doing It Right: RSS Best Practices

Validate Your Feed

Use the Right Encoding

Avoid Using the Same Title Twice

Avoid Overwhelming Servers

Brand Your Feed

Avoid Including Only Titles

Avoid Long Titles and Descriptions

Refine the Content

Use Good Writing Practices

Devote Attention to Your Feed

Make Links Point to Items

Use CDATA Around HTML in <description> Elements

Stay Current on Formats

Limit the Number of Items in Your Feed

Design Your Titles and Descriptions Carefully

Avoid Using HTML in Titles

Get Permission

Include Contact Info

Index

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Copyright

Secrets of RSS

Steven Holzner

Peachpit Press

1249 Eighth Street

Berkeley, CA 94710

510/524-2178

800/283-9444

510/524-2221 (fax)

Find us on the World Wide Web at: www.peachpit.com

To report errors, please send a note to errata@peachpit.com

Peachpit Press is a division of Pearson Education

Copyright © 2006 by Steven Holzner

Editor: Carol Person

Production Coordinator: Simmy Cover

Copyeditor: Jacqueline Aaron

Compositor: Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Indexer: Patti Schiendelman

Cover design: Charlene Charles Will

Interior design: Kim Scott, with Maureen Forys

Notice of Rights

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any

means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written

permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts,

contact permissions@peachpit.com.

Notice of Liability

The information in this book is distributed on an "As Is" basis, without warranty. While every

precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit Press

shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged

to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer

software and hardware products described in it.

Trademarks

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are

claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a

trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other

product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and

for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use,

or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed and bound in the United States of America

Dedication

To Nancy, always and forever!

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Introduction

Have you noticed those small RSS icons while you're online reading your favorite newspaper or

looking at the results of a search? RSS, an acronym for Really Simple Syndication, is essentially a

way for Web sites to syndicate new items.

RSS lets you select the source of your information. The idea is that instead of being inundated by

email or millions of matches in Google searches, you can select the RSS feeds you want to read,

filter them, and get only the information you want. You find an RSS feed, subscribe to it, and read

the feed using an RSS reader installed on your computer.

The popularity of RSS has exploded since it first arrived on the scene, and today there are millions

of RSS feeds. Just about any kind of information is available in an RSS feedlocal news, political

activism, pet news, international news, blogs, and more.

To use RSS, find an item you're interested in reading that has an RSS button or an XML button (as

you'll learn in Chapter 1, "Gotta Get My RSS"), and click the button to connect the RSS feed to the

RSS reader on your computer. When you do that, you are subscribing to that RSS feed.

After you subscribe to the feed you want, the new items will be sent to your RSS reader. Those new

items are displayed as headlines in your RSS reader. All you have to do is scan the titles, double￾click a headline, and the RSS reader downloads and displays the full text of the article. When your

RSS reader is active, it automatically downloads new items.

RSS is the next step in the information revolution, and this book is your guided tour of all aspects

of RSS.

Who Should Read This Book?

There are two types of individuals involved with RSSreaders and publishersand this book is

designed for both.

For those who are interested in learning about RSS and reading RSS feeds, I'll describe many of

the RSS readers available today, and how to use them. You'll learn not only how to subscribe to

RSS feeds using RSS readers, but also how to work with those feeds inside RSS readers. You'll

learn how to download new RSS items, how to view lists of new items' titles, how to read the text

of items that interest you, how to access the item online for more information, and more. You'll see

how to locate RSS feeds on the Internetnot only by using those RSS and XML buttons, but also by

searching huge directories of RSS feeds for the ones that interest you.

If you want to be an RSS publisher, this book is for you as well. I'll guide you through the

seemingly endless options for getting your information out to a large number of eagerly waiting

readers. I'll show you how to create your own RSS feeds both from scratch and by using RSS feed

creation tools (some free, some not). You'll see how to publish your feed online, as well as how to

publicize your feed and get listed in the RSS directories. In no time, you'll end up with readers from

all over, and getting the word out is going to prove easier than you imagined.

What's in This Book?

This book covers the history of RSS and RSS feeds today, both for people who want to read RSS

feeds, and for those who want to publish and publicize feeds. Here are the topics we'll explore:

Subscribing to RSS feeds

Grabbing RSS with readers

Creating RSS feeds

Creating feeds from scratch

Blogging and RSS

Automating creation of RSS feeds

Podcasting: adding multimedia to your feeds

Spreading the word about your RSS feed

Converting RSS feeds to Web sites

RSS best practices

RSS is fantastic for dealing with the information glut by getting just the news you want, and you're

going to get the full scoop hereincluding the secrets behind successful RSS.

What Will You Need?

This book is designed to give you all the information you need to handle RSS, from finding and

reading feeds, all the way to creating your own feeds and even merging feeds and creating Web

pages from them.

This book is self-contained. A working knowledge of HTML and XML would be helpful, although not

necessary; I provide a XML primer.

You will need a computer with an Internet connection to follow along, and if you want to upload

and publish your own RSS feeds, you'll need a way of hosting files on the Internet. Nothing special

is required, just an ISP. In general, if you can host Web pages, you can host the XML-based

documents that make up RSS feeds.

To publish an RSS feed, all you really need is a way to upload files, just as you upload Web pages.

You can use an FTP program, available from some ISPs.

If you only want to read RSS feeds, you will need to be able to download filesin particular, RSS

feeds themselves, as well as the many free software packages that let you read and handle those

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RSS feeds.

Later in the book, I describe how you can automatically read and convert RSS feeds into HTML and

display them on your Web pages (Chapter 9, "Converting RSS Feeds to a Web Site").

And that's itwe're ready to start the grand tour of RSS. For an overview of the RSS world today,

and what you'll find in it, turn to Chapter 1.

Chapter 1. Gotta Get My RSS

It's morning and you're checking your email. Your in-box is stuffed, with both real email and spam.

Your stomach tightens. How are you ever going to wade through all that mail before the morning

meeting?

Now it's afternoon, and it's time to do some research on the Internet. You're supposed to be

keeping track of the latest developments in your field, and the task has proven far harder than you

thought. When you search the Internet for the latest news, you get 17 million pages, some dating

back years. How can you possibly sort through all those pages to get just this month's news?

Let's face it, it's great that the Internet has made finding information simpler and quicker than

ever. But it's also a problem: People are drowning in piles of information to work through. By some

estimates, it takes a worker two hours a day just to respond to emails.

Much of the trouble is that until recently it has been difficult to choose where your information

comes from. When you use a search engine to find information, you're searching more than 3

billion World Wide Web resources at once. When you open your email program, anyone (and

sometimes it feels like everyone) is dumping email on you.

That's where RSS comes in. And this book is your guided tour to all the secrets of RSS.

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What Is RSS?

The great advantage of RSS is that you can select your sources of information if you're the reader,

and you can publicize selected information if you're the publisher. RSS is the next step in the

information revolution and it's transforming the Internet and the world.

RSS is an acronym for at least three different phrases, but the most common one is Really Simple

Syndication. Syndication has to do with syndicating your information flowin other words, you can

subscribe to the information feeds you want. And when you subscribe, you automatically get the

news you want. If you don't subscribe, you don't get the news you don't want. That's a breath of

fresh air, but who publishes this news flow? Are there many feeds out there?

RSS feeds are a good idea in theory, but according to www.pubsub.com, which specializes in RSS

feeds, the site now tracks feeds from 21,201,699 sources, 13,489,779 of which are currently active.

Many of these feeds come from Web logs, or blogs, and are automatically converted into RSS feeds

by the Web site that hosts that blog. So, there's an immense number of feeds you can choose from.

(Are there too many? That's a different question!)

You can find feeds on just about every aspect of modern life, from commercial to professional to

personal. You'll find medical RSS feeds, news RSS feeds (for example, from almost all the major

national newspapers), feeds on new software, on hobbies, finances, press releases, new products,

shopping hints, human resources, fiction writing, and just about everything else you can think of.

So the information is out there, and if you're interested in a certain type of information, you can

subscribe to the appropriate feed. But how does RSS work? And how do you handle a feed?

You start with the software.

How RSS Works

As you may knowand if you don't, you'll learn all about it in this bookRSS is based on XML. (XML

stands for Extensible Markup Language, in case you've not heard of itbut don't panic, RSS is easy

to master.) A typical RSS feed is actually an XML file that contains one or more news items. (You

can read all about XML in Chapter 4, "Creating RSS Feeds from Scratch.")

An RSS feed is an XML file that resides on a Web server and is accessible by URL. How do you know

if there's an XML file just waiting as an RSS feed? When you see a button on a Web page (Figure

1.1), with the icon XML or RSS (there are other possible icons as well, as you'll see in Chapter 2,

"Grabbing RSS with Readers"), you know there's an RSS feed available. Figure 1.1 shows some of

the RSS feeds on CNN.comjust about all CNN's stories are available in RSS now.

Figure 1.1. RSS feed buttons are plentiful on www.cnn.com.

[View full size image]

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In fact, there are scores of RSS feeds out there, and your first step is to find the ones you want. To

that end, you can search dozens of RSS feed directories using keywords. Here's a starter list of

online RSS feed directories, each of which lists many RSS feeds you can subscribe to:

www.syndic8.com/feedlist.php

www.blogstreet.com

www.search4rss.com

http://feedfinder.feedster.com/

www.completerss.com

www.newsgator.com/ngs/default.aspx

www.blogsearchengine.com (add rss after your search term)

www.2rss.com/index.php

www.rss-network.com/

www.rssfeeds.com/

www.shas3.com/RSS.html

You'll learn how to work with RSS feed directories in the next chapter, but here's the idea: You just

navigate to a directory site in your browser and use an RSS feed directory such as Feedster

(Figure 1.2), then enter the relevant term.

Figure 1.2. Enter a term in the Feedster RSS directory, then click the Find

Feeds button.

[View full size image]

After you click the Find Feeds button, you'll get a list of feeds (Figure 1.3).

Figure 1.3. Click the Find Feeds button to get your list of RSS feeds from

Feedster.

[View full size image]

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How do you read the feeds you've found? The idea is you subscribe to the feeds you want using an

RSS reader. Essentially, XML buttons link to the URL for the RSS feed, and you simply paste that

URL into your RSS reader.

With the RSS reader program SharpReader, the feed is listed in the left-hand pane. Each feed

consists of a number of news items. When you click a subscribed feed, the news items from that

feed appear in the top right pane of the RSS reader (Figure 1.4).

Figure 1.4. Get news items from RSS feeds in SharpReader.

[View full size image]