RSS Versus Atom

I've just been reading this
article about about the Atom
web syndication format:

Atom (standard)

The above Wikipedia article seems
to be saying that the two following
web syndication formats co-exist on
the web:

• RSS 2.0
• Atom

Of the two formats, RSS 2.0
is the original. It would seem that
the Atom format for web
syndication is really a wish-list
of sorts for RSS 2.0.

In other words, Atom exists because
of perceived deficiencies with RSS
2.0. I say perceived because
I really don't know either format.

I'm learning as I go here.

At some point, it would seem, some
people got dissatisfied with RSS 2.0
and created Atom to address their
dissatisfaction.

Ed Abbott

What is RSS?

OK. This is a new blog.

What is RSS? According to
Wikipedia, it is Really
Simple Syndication.

Here's the Wikipedia article
on RSS:

Wikipedia RSS Article

OK. Saying it is Really
Simple Syndication does
not say much.

What is it really?

I'm new to RSS myself. According
to the above Wikipedia article,
RSS gained widespread popularity
in the 2005 and 2006 timeframe.

So, as I sit here writing, RSS has
been popular for a mere 5 years.

That's why I'm just now bothering to
find out about it. I usually try to
be the last person to learn about
something.

Why? Because I want to be sure it's
going to stick around a while before
I invest my time in it. Looks like
RSS is here to stay.

Here's something else I glean from the
Wikipedia article. RSS allows the
information to be published once, but
read many times.

That's an important idea that reappears
again and again in computer science.

Publish once but allow it to be read
many many times.

What is the information that is being
published?

In simple terms (probably too simple)
the information is a recent update to
your website.

Say you've added a new article to your
website or blog. An RSS feed should,
in theory, let the world know that you
have done so.

I say in theory because I'm new
to RSS. I'm still learning the gritty
details.

In other words, it seems that RSS is a
way of summarizing something you've
recently done.

Summarization is an important concept.
Rather than put someone in the position
of having to re-read your entire website
to find out what is new, you summarize it
in an RSS Feed.

Make sense? So basically, RSS is an
automated tool that answers the question,
What's new?

All this is theory. I'm still learning
here.

Here's another important concept from the
Wikipedia article. The concept of an
RSS reader.

We are all familiar with email readers.
We use them to read our email.

An RSS reader is undoubtedly the same
sort of thing. An RSS reader should,
in theory, allow you to read RSS feed
updates.

I've yet to research RSS readers or
actually use one, so I'll write more
about this when I actually start using
one.

One more important concept that would
seem to be important to understanding
RSS. That's the concept of followers.

If you have no one following your RSS
Feed, what's the point?

To summarize, I'd say that there are
4 important ideas that help to clarify
just what RSS is:

1. RSS is a means for people
   to keep up-to-date on what's
   happening with your website
   or blog.
2. RSS allows you to publish
   your updates once but then have
   them to be read many times
   by many people
3. RSS allow your readers to
   read your updates with the ease
   and convenience of an
   RSS reader
4. RSS enables you to turn
   the regular readers of
   your RSS updates into followers
   of your website or blog

More later.

Ed Abbott