Integrate Expertise: Simplifying RSS Feeds

No doubt you've heard of the term “RSS,” but what does it mean? And why is it important? RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and its basic mission is to deliver content on an automatic basis to users who subscribe to the RSS feed.

An RSS feed as viewed in Apple''s Safari web browser.

The most popular version of RSS specification is currently 2.0, which is a developed version of the RSS 0.92. In 2002, Dave Winer developed and finalized version 2.0. Variations of RSS have more recently been developed, including RSS 3.0, but none have gained the acceptance of 2.0, which has become the standard. Winer requested that the format be locked down at 2.0 to maintain ongoing future compatibility, and his request was granted. If there were various versions of RSS, there would be incompatability across the board, negating the “really simple syndication” goal.

Podcasting is where a lot of digital content producers first hear of RSS because RSS is how most podcasts are delivered. If you have done any blog surfing at all, no doubt you have seen a button that said something similar to “RSS feed” or “XML.”

The RSS feed is written in the XML computer language, so the terms “RSS” and “XML” are interchangeable. The simplest way to think of RSS is like a magazine subscription. When you subscribe to a magazine, you receive an automatic delivery every time there is an issue. You can opt to cancel the subscription at any time, and if you subscribe for a few months, you'll have several issues on hand that you can read. To subscribe to any web content, blog, or podcast, you use an aggregator.

RSS aggregators are programs or websites that allow you to subscribe as well as unsubscribe to an RSS feed at any time. Aggregators are also commonly referred to as channel readers or RSS readers, but the concept is the same — collecting the latest content and, via a content provider, pushing it out. If you google “RSS aggregators,” you will find many aggregators. However, two of the most notable and easiest to use are Internet Explorer 7 (currently in beta) and Apple's Safari web browser. Unlike many browsers, they have the RSS capability built in.

If you use either of these browsers to subscribe to a feed, you'll automatically get new content whenever the feed is updated. To subscribe to a feed in either browser, simply view an RSS feed within the browser, then choose “Subscribe.” In Internet Explorer 7, the subscribe link is directly under the feed description, and in Safari, you click on the subscribe link in the right-hand panel. Another option is to merely bookmark the page, which is the RSS feed, then you can go right to it to see updated content just like any other bookmarked page.

There are also other options for both Mac and PC, and many are freeware or shareware. One of the most popular options that works with both platforms is Juice, formerly iPodder Lemon. With 2 million downloads, it has a lot of users and it's easy to install and use. Other options include: NewsGator, which comes in a web-based version as well as a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook; NewsGator Technologies FeedDemon 2.0, which features advanced customization and arrangement of your subscribed feeds; and Bloglines, which, like Internet Explorer 7 and Safari, is also a web-based RSS aggregator, so it works inside your browser and its completely free.

To be honest, I used iPodder Lemon all the time before iTunes came out, but now I use iTunes to manage all my RSS podcast feeds. I like the interface — it's free and constantly updated, and it works great with my iPod.

Figure 1. This example is for one of my podcasts “Media Artist Secrets.” This can be coded by hand in about 10 minutes.
For a larger image, click here

Creating an RSS is simple because there are many programs that can do it for you. I suggest Reinvented Software Feeder for the Mac and NotePage FeedforAll on the PC. If your focus is podcasting, and you intend to submit to Apple iTunes, look for an RSS creation program that also does iTunes tags (Feeder and FeedforAll have this feature). If you want a little more than the feed, and you want to produce/publish/FTP your podcast, look into more advanced programs such as Potion Factory Podcast Maker for the Mac and CastBlaster for PC.

Keep in mind that all of these programs are robust, and most are less than $50. If you want to send your blog data out via RSS, almost all blog software these days has RSS syndication features built in, so the easiest path is to stick with the blog's built-in tools. The other option is to handcode the XML and create the RSS yourself.

If you look at an RSS file,which is an .XML document, you may be surprised to see that it is fairly readable and easy to understand. Each element in an RSS file starts with an open tag and ends with a closed tag. The title in Figure 1 (on p. 59) starts with . This is 95 percent of how the code works. If you look at the whole document, you'll see it starts with and ends with .

You may be thinking this looks a lot like HTML, and it does. However, HTML is complex, with loads of variants compared to the simplicity of XML. If you read down through the XML coding in Figure 1, you'll see the name of the show, the URL, a description, when it was published, a help file, and an email. You'll also notice a link to the official image to this particular podcast. The only thing that changes when the feed is updated will be the (or items if there are more than one). You can see that there is only one item in the Figure 1 feed, which means there is only one episode. (To examine the full version of this feed, including iTunes tags, visit fmstudio.com/podcasts/rss2.xml.)

The code also lists the title of the show, the description, author, date, and the enclosure tag. Ah, the enclosure tag! This feature really exploded the podcast industry and made it super easy to deliver actual content beyond text (you can have an enclosure that is an MP3, video, PDF, etc). The file type (audio/MPEG) lets your browser know how to play the file. For our example, it is an MP3 file. The length is the duration of the file in bytes. You obtain this information by right clicking on your MP3, copying the length amount, and then removing the commas. In this example, the enclosure is 6,555,658, or about 6.5MB.

If you decide you want to handcode your feed, there are tutorials available online. Some of the best are found at podcast411.com. Like handcoding HTML, it may mean some trial and error (you can test your feed to see if it validates, or works properly, in any recent browser), which is a great way to learn how RSS operates, and the knowledge will help you understand the process down the line.

Feeder by Reinvented Software allows you to create RSS feeds easily without any handcoding.

The beauty of RSS is that any enterprise can incorporate their own code, which is how iTunes handles podcasting. Apple created a new set of instructions such as descriptions and keywords that are recognized when a feed is added to iTunes (other online directories have started recognizing these new tags as well). For example, a user can add standard keywords in an RSS feed, then also add iTunes keywords. The RSS format is flexible enough to allow both, and if an RSS reader does not recognize the new tags, it usually just ignores them.

When you use a podcast reader such as iTunes, why do you never see these feeds? With iTunes and other podcast aggregators such as Yahoo Podcasts, you submit your RSS feed, and when it's added to the directory, the directory creates a new unique link to the feed, which is why you may see a link to the XML and a link to the iTunes store on a podcast webpage. Now, however, you can add a plain old RSS feed to iTunes, as opposed to searching and subscribing in the iTunes store, by going to the pull-down menu and choosing “Advanced/Subscribe to Podcast.”

The best advice is to become familiar with RSS and how it moves out data to a mass audience. The momentum for the technology has been building for several years and has really exploded in the last 12 months — and it's only going to spread. As digital content producers, we all want to get content in the hands, and on the computers, of eager audiences, and RSS is one simple, yet brilliant, method that does an amazing job.

Franklin McMahon produces a weekly podcast for creative career development called “Media Artist Secrets” available at
fmstudio.com.

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