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The Making of an RSS Feed
Everyday more and more websites, news services
and blogs are
adding RSS content. RSS is a method of
syndicating content.The concept of aggregating content in one
central
location or repository is very appealing. Consumers have become
tired of push technology, RSS allows users the
flexibility to regain control
of their content. RSS feed creators provide content without forcing it on
consumers. In fact with RSS consumers are able to choose the content
they wish to view.
How to Make an RSS Feed
RSS feeds contain what
are referred to as "items". The items
are usually connected in some way and
contain a common theme or other similarity.
The following feed http://www.notepage.net/feed.xml
contains
eight items. The items are all SMS and paging related
news
articles that would likely benefit someone interested in the
wireless
market.
Each item
contains:
title
description
link
The title and description
should be written to describe the
content and the link should reference the
webpage that contains that actual content.
Like html, the xml file
uses open and close tags to designate the title, description and link. Tags
are enclosed in brackets <>, like standard html and the close
tag contains a forward slash /.
The following is what an item in a xml
file looks like:
<title>The Title Goes
Here</title>
<descritpion>The description goes
here</description>
<link>http://www.linkgoeshere.com</link>
As
I mentioned earlier, an RSS feeds contains items and like the tags above, an
open and close tag is used to distinguish
between
items.
<item>
<title>The Title Goes
Here</title>
<descritpion>The description goes
here</description>
<link>http://www.linkgoeshere.com</link>
</item>
<item>
<title>Another
Title Goes Here</title>
<descritpion>Another description goes
here</description>
<link>http://www.anotherlinkgoeshere.com</link>
</item>
Now
an RSS Feed is a series of items, these items are chained together to create
what is called a "Channel".
The Channel appears at the top of the file
and tells people how the items relate to each other. Like items channels
use title, description and link tags to describe its content. The open
channel tag <chanel> occurs before the first item and the close tag
</channel> occurs after the last
item.
<channel>
<title>The Channel Title Goes
Here</title>
<description>The explanation of how the items are
related
goes
here</description>
<link>http://www.directoryoflinksgohere</link>
<item>
<title>The
Title Goes Here</title>
<descritpion>The description goes
here</description>
<link>http://www.linkgoeshere.com</link>
</item>
<item>
<title>Another
Title Goes Here</title>
<descritpion>Another description goes
here</description>
<link>http://www.anotherlinkgoeshere.com</link>
</item>
</channel>
Finally
you will need to designate the file by indicating it is an XML file by
inserting xml and rss defining tags at the beginning and </rss> at the
very end.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss
version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>The Channel Title Goes
Here</title>
<description>The explanation of how the items are
related
goes
here</description>
<link>http://www.directoryoflinksgohere</link>
<item>
<title>The
Title Goes Here</title>
<descritpion>The description goes
here</description>
<link>http://www.linkgoeshere.com</link>
</item>
<item>
<title>Another
Title Goes Here</title>
<descritpion>Another description goes
here</description>
<link>http://www.anotherlinkgoeshere.com</link>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
When
you save the file be sure to save it as an xml file.
Warning
If you
create the file using Dreamweaver or a similar tool
becareful that it does
not strip out tags it feels are redundant. In order to be be an RSS feed your
file needs at bare minimum that tags that were discussed above, and
the file will not be valid if tags are stripped out.
I found a cool
little free program that helped in xml file creation called First Object
Editor
http://www.firstobject.com/
Validation
As
my math teacher use to say, check your work! Once your
file is complete and
uploaded einter it into the feed validator at http://feedvalidator.org
Syndication
/ Submission
If you've made it this far you are in good shape it is
time to "syndicate" your content! Submit your RSS feed (the xml file you
created) to sites just like you would submit a web page. Some of the more
popular sites that accept RSS files can be found under "Post RSS Feed"
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/rss-feeds.html
About
the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc.
http://www.notepage.net a company
specializing in
alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging
software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com
, and
http://www.small-business-software.net
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