There are two very different, incompatible branches, RSS 0.91 (the latest version of which is RSS 2) and RSS 1.0, and overall there are [nine different, incompatible, versions].
There is not agreement of what the acronym RSS actually stands for, although RSS itself has a well defined meaning. DaveWiner called the first version he worked on ReallySimpleSyndication. One might say that RSS stands for (Rich|RDF|Really)(Site|Simple)(Summary|Syndication).
[RSS autodiscovery] uses a tag so that a browser looking at a page is notified if that page has a corresponding RSS feed. There has been an [update] to RSS autodiscovery.
Some versions of RSS use ResourceDescriptionFramework (RDF).
The traditional tool on the Internet to syndicate news is a mailing list. RSS only made sense with the creation of ChangeAggregators. However, the original ChangeAggregator is your e-mail inbox. People want all their changes to be in one place, which means in their inboxes. Wouldn't it be simpler, a more HumaneInterface, and more bandwidth efficient, to simply e-mail changes rather than polling RSS feeds once every half hour? Plus, e-mail clients are more powerful than RSS ChangeAggregators.
Below are some tools for dealing with RSS. For more tools that generate RSS from various sources or make web pages out of RSS, see ChangeAggregator.
The Meatball panel looks nice. It's not quite enough to make me use Mozilla, however. :-) -- CliffordAdams
I've been using the MeatBall sidebar quite a bit, and have souped up the TWiki sidebar as well. One side effect is that Mozilla is now my main browser for Wikis... Definitely makes it easier to check for RecentChanges and make quick searches etc - which may or may not be a good thing (viz. Wiki:RecentChangesJunkies). Would be nice if the MeatBall panel could be parameterised to provide more items, and maybe a search box as well. --RichardDonkin
Is DaveWiner's RSS 2.0 still incompatible from the other branch? -- BayleShanks
I think DaveWiner is insane. cf. http://archive.scripting.com/2004/03/09#rssIsRaging. -- SunirShah
DaveWiner is very likely insane, but the so called "specifications" he makes always have the noble goal to make one thing and make it well (Wiki:DoTheSimplestThingThatCouldPossiblyWork). The only problem with them is, that they always are written so inprecise that incompatible followup specifications will arise. ATOM and RDF-based RSS1 on the other hand strike for world-domination and being everything to all (too overloaded), hence the little adoption. -- MarioSalzer?
CategorySyndication, CategoryWebTechnology