Blog Update: RSS

ID: 050707.1043

I added RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to the Current Blog page. Clicking the RSS button below the Site Menu will open an XML (Extended Markup Language) file, b_rss.xml. What happens then depends on what application was used to open this file.

A non-RSS-enabled browser such as Internet Explorer will display a raw XML file like this:

- <rss version="2.0">
  - <channel>
    <title>cssfan: BLOG (7 most recent entries)</title>
    <link>http://homepage.mac.com/cssfan/blog.html</link>
    <description>Most Recent CSSFAN Blog
</description>
    <ttl>60</ttl>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright 2005</copyright>
  - <item>
      <title>Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger): Widgets</title>
      <link>http://homepage.mac.com/cssfan/b_0507050947.html</link>
      <description>A new feature ... (or night).</description>
      <!-- <author>cssfan</author>   -->
      <pubDate>Tue, 5 Jul 2005 11:47:00 CDT</pubDate>
    </item>
    —
  </channel>
</rss>

(Although Firefox suppports RSS, until I make some additional changes Firefox will also display an unstyled XML file.)

If you use Mac OS X 1.4's Safari 2.0 browser, or an RSS Reader, you'll see the titles, dates, and opening paragraphs of the seven most recent cssfan blog entries, with links to the full entries, and a sidebar for managing these links.

Safari can save this RSS feed as a bookmark. All RSS bookmarks are kept in a special folder (Collection) named "All RSS Feeds." At any time, you can choose Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks > All RSS Feeds, or Bookmarks > Boookmark Bar > View All RSS Articles to create a similar display of the most current entries for all the RSS feeds in your collection. If all your favorite websites were bookmarked as RSS feeds, you could view summaries of all the newest content in all your favorite sites on one page, then pick which to view in detail.

In you're not using Apple's Safari browser, you can use an RSS Reader. Bloglines, for example, offers both a free web-based RSS Reader, and blog hosting. You can also add RSS feeds to your Yahoo account:

1. From http://my.yahoo.com/, click Add Content.
2. At the end of the Find Content text box, click Add RSS by URL.
3. In the URL text box, enter the RSS feed URL; for example, http://homepage.mac.com/cssfan/b_rss.xml.
4. Click Add.

Yahoo! displays titles from the RSS feed. You can add this feed to your Yahoo! homepage by clicking Add to My Yahoo! Returning to My Yahoo! home displays the new feed below your existing content.

If you elect to add an RSS feed to cssfan BLOG, let me know and I will no longer send you email announcements of new entries.

(I also promise to upgrade both the validity and sophistication of this feed — as time permits!)

You can learn more about the RSS 2.0 specification at RSS at Harvard Law.

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