RSS feeds

[241]

I have been working on sorting out the NewsDesk contribution and someone pointed out that the RSS feeds still don't work.

 

I do not know about RSS feeds so what are they, where are they used.

 

Is this a feedback to a management system along the lines of nuke.

 

My idea is if I can learn the purpose of them and the working of them then I will take a look at the codes and see if I can get RSS to work.

 

If this is a little used item which is more effort than worth then I will not.

 

First I need some info on RSS

[Guest]

What is RSS?

 

RSS is a Web content syndication format.

 

Its name is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication.

 

RSS is a dialect of XML. All RSS files must conform to the XML 1.0 specification, as published on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) website.

 

RSS History

Posted by Dave Winer, 4/6/04 at 6:16:13 PM.

 

There are a lot of folk legends about the evolution of RSS. Here's the scoop, the sequence of events in the life of RSS, as told by the designer of most of the formats.

 

scriptingNews format, designed by DW at UserLand. 12/27/97.

 

 

RSS 0.90, designed by Netscape, for use with my.netscape.com, which also supported scriptingNews format. The only thing about it that was RDF was the header, otherwise it was plain garden-variety XML. 3/15/99.

 

 

scriptingNews 2.0b1, designed by DW at UserLand, enhanced to include all the features in RSS 0.90. Privately DW urged Netscape to adopt the features in this format that weren't present in RSS 0.90. 6/15/99.

 

 

RSS 0.91, designed by Netscape, spec written by Dan Libby, includes most features from scriptingNews 2.0b1. "We're trying to move towards a more standard format, and to this end we have included several tags from the popular <scriptingNews> format." The RDF header is gone. 7/10/99.

 

 

UserLand adopts RSS 0.91, deprecates scriptingNews formats. 7/28/99.

 

 

The RSS team at Netscape evaporates.

 

 

UserLand's RSS 0.91 specification. 6/4/00.

 

 

RSS 1.0 published as a proposal, worked on in private by a group led by Rael Dornfest at O'Reilly. Based on RDF and uses namespaces. Most elements of previous formats moved into modules. Like 0.90 it has an RDF header, but otherwise is a brand-new format, not related to any previous format. 8/14/00.

 

 

RSS 0.92, which is 0.91 with optional elements, designed by DW at UserLand. 12/25/00.

 

 

RSS 0.93 discussed but never deployed. 4/20/01.

 

 

MetaWeblog API merges RSS 0.92 with XML-RPC to provide a powerful blogging API. 3/14/02.

 

 

RSS 2.0, which is 0.92 with optional elements, designed by DW, after leaving UserLand. MetaWeblog API updated for RSS 2.0. While in development, this format was called 0.94. 9/18/02.

 

 

RSS 2.0 spec released through Harvard under a Creative Commons license. 7/15/03.

 

At the top level, a RSS document is a <rss> element, with a mandatory attribute called version, that specifies the version of RSS that the document conforms to. If it conforms to this specification, the version attribute must be 2.0.

 

Subordinate to the <rss> element is a single <channel> element, which contains information about the channel (metadata) and its contents.

 

Here is an example file of a file from the RSS 2.0 specification:

  <?xml version="1.0" ?>

- <!--  RSS generated by Radio UserLand v8.0.5 on 9/30/2002; 4:00:00 AM Pacific

  -->

- <rss version="2.0" xmlns:blogChannel="http://backend.userland.com/blogChannelModule">

- <channel>

  <title>Scripting News</title>

  <link>http://www.scripting.com/</link>

  <description>A weblog about scripting and stuff like that.</description>

  <language>en-us</language>

  <blogChannel:blogRoll>http://radio.weblogs.com/0001015/userland/scriptingNewsLeftLinks.opml</blogChannel:blogRoll>

  <blogChannel:mySubscriptions>http://radio.weblogs.com/0001015/gems/mySubscriptions.opml</blogChannel:mySubscriptions>

  <blogChannel:blink>http://diveintomark.org/</blogChannel:blink>

  <copyright>Copyright 1997-2002 Dave Winer</copyright>

  <lastBuildDate>Mon, 30 Sep 2002 11:00:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>

  <docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss</docs>

  <generator>Radio UserLand v8.0.5</generator>

  <category domain="Syndic8">1765</category>

  <managingEditor>[email protected]</managingEditor>

  <webMaster>[email protected]</webMaster>

  <ttl>40</ttl>

- <item>

  <description>"rssflowersalignright"With any luck we should have one or two more days of namespaces stuff here on Scripting News. It feels like it's winding down. Later in the week I'm going to a <a href="http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/conferences/conf_detail.jhtml?id=s775stg&pid=144XCF">conference</a> put on by the Harvard Business School. So that should change the topic a bit. The following week I'm off to Colorado for the <a href="http://www.digitalidworld.com/conference/2002/index.php">Digital ID World</a> conference. We had to go through namespaces, and it turns out that weblogs are a great way to work around mail lists that are clogged with <a href="http://www.userland.com/whatIsStopEnergy">stop energy</a>. I think we solved the problem, have reached a consensus, and will be ready to move forward shortly.</description>

  <pubDate>Mon, 30 Sep 2002 01:56:02 GMT</pubDate>

  <guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#When:6:56:02PM</guid>

  </item>

- <item>

  <description>Joshua Allen: <a href="http://www.netcrucible.com/blog/2002/09/29.html#a243">Who loves namespaces?</a></description>

  <pubDate>Sun, 29 Sep 2002 19:59:01 GMT</pubDate>

  <guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#When:12:59:01PM</guid>

  </item>

- <item>

  <description><a href="http://www.docuverse.com/blog/donpark/2002/09/29.html#a68">Don Park</a>: "It is too easy for engineer to anticipate too much and XML Namespace is a frequent host of over-anticipation."</description>

  <pubDate>Mon, 30 Sep 2002 01:52:02 GMT</pubDate>

  <guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#When:6:52:02PM</guid>

  </item>

- <item>

  <description><a href="http://scriptingnews.userland.com/stories/storyReader$1768">Three Sunday Morning Options</a>. "I just got off the phone with Tim Bray, who graciously returned my call on a Sunday morning while he was making breakfast for his kids." We talked about three options for namespaces in RSS 2.0, and I think I now have the tradeoffs well outlined, and ready for other developers to review. If there is now a consensus, I think we can easily move forward.</description>

  <pubDate>Sun, 29 Sep 2002 17:05:20 GMT</pubDate>

  <guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#When:10:05:20AM</guid>

  </item>

- <item>

  <description><a href="http://blog.mediacooperative.com/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=1435">Mark Pilgrim</a> weighs in behind option 1 on a Ben Hammersley thread. On the RSS2-Support list, Phil Ringnalda lists a set of <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RSS2-Support/message/54">proposals</a>, the first is equivalent to option 1.</description>

  <pubDate>Sun, 29 Sep 2002 19:09:28 GMT</pubDate>

  <guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#When:12:09:28PM</guid>

  </item>

- <item>

  <description><a href="http://effbot.org/zone/effnews-4.htm">Fredrik Lundh breaks</a> through, following Simon Fell's lead, now his Python aggregator works with Scripting News <a href="http://www.scripting.com/rss.xml">in</a> RSS 2.0. BTW, the spec is imperfect in regards to namespaces. We anticipated a 2.0.1 and 2.0.2 in the Roadmap for exactly this purpose. Thanks for your help, as usual, Fredrik.</description>

  <pubDate>Sun, 29 Sep 2002 15:01:02 GMT</pubDate>

  <guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#When:8:01:02AM</guid>

  </item>

- <item>

  <title>Law and Order</title>

  <link>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#lawAndOrder</link>

  <description><p><a href="http://www.nbc.com/Law_&_Order/index.html"><img src="http://radio.weblogs.com/0001015/images/2002/09/29/lenny.gif" width="45" height="53" border="0" align="right" hspace="15" vspace="5" alt="A picture named lenny.gif"></a>A great line in a recent Law and Order. Lenny Briscoe, played by Jerry Orbach, is interrogating a suspect. The suspect tells a story and reaches a point where no one believes him, not even the suspect himself. Lenny says: "Now there's five minutes of my life that's lost forever." </p></description>

  <pubDate>Sun, 29 Sep 2002 23:48:33 GMT</pubDate>

  <guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#lawAndOrder</guid>

  </item>

- <item>

  <title>Rule 1</title>

  <link>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#rule1</link>

  <description><p>In the discussions over namespaces in RSS 2.0, one thing I hear a lot of, that is just plain wrong, is that when you move up by a major version number, breakage is expected and is okay. In the world I come from it is, emphatically, <i>not okay.</i> We spend huge resources to make sure that files, scripts and apps built in version N work in version N+1 without modification. Even the smallest change in the core engine can break apps. It's just not acceptable. When we make changes we have to be sure there's no breakage. I don't know where these other people come from, or if they make software that anyone uses, but the users I know don't stand for that. As we expose the tradeoffs it becomes clear that <i>that's the issue here.</i> We are not in Year Zero. There are users. Breaking them is not an option. A conclusion to lift the confusion: Version 0.91 and 0.92 files are valid 2.0 files. This is where we started, what seems like years ago.</p> <p>BTW, you can ask anyone who's worked for me in a technical job to explain rules 1 and 1b. (I'll clue you in. Rule 1 is "No Breakage" and Rule 1b is "Don't Break Dave.")</p></description>

  <pubDate>Sun, 29 Sep 2002 17:24:20 GMT</pubDate>

  <guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#rule1</guid>

  </item>

- <item>

  <title>Really early morning no-coffee notes</title>

  <link>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#reallyEarlyMorningNocoffeeNotes</link>

  <description><p>One of the lessons I've learned in 47.4 years: When someone accuses you of a <a href="http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=deceit">deceit</a>, there's a very good chance the accuser practices that form of deceit, and a reasonable chance that he or she is doing it as they point the finger. </p> <p><a href="http://www.docuverse.com/blog/donpark/2002/09/28.html#a66">Don Park</a>: "He poured a barrel full of pig urine all over the Korean Congress because he was pissed off about all the dirty politics going on."</p> <p><a href="http://davenet.userland.com/1995/01/04/demoingsoftwareforfunprofi">1/4/95</a>: "By the way, the person with the big problem is probably a competitor."</p> <p>I've had a fair amount of experience in the last few years with what you might call standards work. XML-RPC, SOAP, RSS, OPML. Each has been different from the others. In all this work, the most positive experience was XML-RPC, and not just because of the technical excellence of the people involved. In the end, what matters more to me is <a href="http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=collegiality">collegiality</a>. Working together, person to person, for the sheer pleasure of it, is even more satisfying than a good technical result. Now, getting both is the best, and while XML-RPC is not perfect, it's pretty good. I also believe that if you have collegiality, technical excellence follows as a natural outcome.</p> <p>One more bit of philosophy. At my checkup earlier this week, one of the things my cardiologist asked was if I was experiencing any kind of intellectual dysfunction. In other words, did I lose any of my sharpness as a result of the surgery in June. I told him yes I had and thanked him for asking. In an amazing bit of synchronicity, the next day John Robb <a href="http://jrobb.userland.com/2002/09/25.html#a2598">located</a> an article in New Scientist that said that scientists had found a way to prevent this from happening. I hadn't talked with John about my experience or the question the doctor asked. Yesterday I was telling the story to my friend Dave Jacobs. He said it's not a problem because I always had excess capacity in that area. Exactly right Big Dave and thanks for the vote of confidence.</p></description>

  <pubDate>Sun, 29 Sep 2002 11:13:10 GMT</pubDate>

  <guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/09/29#reallyEarlyMorningNocoffeeNotes</guid>

  </item>

  </channel>

  </rss>

[241]

Thanks John,

 

I just read that lot from a google search of RSS.

 

The newsdesk feature had rss pages that never worked, I presume that the purpose of these pages were to pull news items from the web into the newsdesk feature.

 

I believe that there are or were different formats for the code, so it may be a case of a defunct code that needs updating to the new standards.

 

John your post goes some way to confirm that there were different formats

 

Would I be correct in that RSS uses XML and relies on Python.

 

John agin your post goes some way to confirm this part also

 

I am trying to ascertain whether it is something that I should spend time on trying to get working or if it is more hassle than worth.

[Guest]

i use it for my dads mortgage company!!! mortgage laon news!

 

Its free as long as i leave the who vreated links there and can be minipulated to style with CSS. you just have to figure out which CSS calls they use. most are pretty generic!

 

EDIT:

 

see it at www.applemortgagelending.com

[jujuhost]

My understanding of what the RSS support in NewsDesk is supposed to do is to output the title/contents of a news posting as part of an RSS feed.

 

i.e. People can then use news aggregators to take in the RSS file generated from newsdesk to see what's new on the site without having to visit directly. People can also take RSS output from one site and include it in another site

 

A very convenient set of features. Worth doing!

 

Check out the other RSS contributions here on OSCommerce.com

 

JuJu