What is RSS and why should I care?

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format) :

RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts.

Users of RSS content use programs called feed 'readers' or 'aggregators': the user 'subscribes' to a feed by supplying to their reader a link to the feed; the reader can then check the user's subscribed feeds to see if any of those feeds have new content since the last time it checked, and if so, retrieve that content and present it to the user.

The initials "RSS" are variously used to refer to the following standards:

* Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)
* Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91, RSS 1.0)
* RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0)

RSS formats are specified in XML (a generic specification for data formats). RSS delivers its information as an XML file called an "RSS feed", "webfeed", "RSS stream", or "RSS channel".

Basically, RSS is a standard way of formatting web site information so it can be easily shared with other sites or programs. How does this affect you? There are two major uses for RSS right now:

1. Syndication - web sites can easily syndicate (display) content from other sites. If Site A sets up an RSS feed, Site B can easily show the headlines from Site A right there on Site B. This is becoming increasingly common as more and more sites include "Latest Headlines" from various news site.

2. News readers. Also known as feed readers or RSS aggregators, these applications make it easy for people to read news from several different web sites all at once. All you have to do is enter the addresses of the various news feeds that you want, and your reader will harvest that news for you, all in a central program. It can also check for updates for you on a regular basis. This is useful for anyone who wants to keep up on news from various sources.

The origin of RSS feeds is in exchange of recent information ("syndication") of blogs, that is: a reverse chronological list of articles ('items').
That is why originally, the main information in an RSS is:
- on FEED level
* feed title (one line of text)
* feed description (some free text)
* feed link (URL that typically links to the homepage of the blog, or the HTML version of whatever the RSS is transporting)
* feed timestamp (publication date)
* optional metatags like author, language, logo, copyright, ...

- on ITEM level (for each item)
* item title (one line of text)
* item description (some free formatted text)
* item link (URL)
* item timestamp (publication date)
* item categories (if any)
* item unique ID (needed to see if it's a new item, or an old one that was updated)
* optional tags like author ID, excerpt, ...

With the latest version, RSS 2.0, it has also become possible add to every item links to e.g. MP3 files, images, videos. This has sparked the mergence of podcasting, video blogs and photofeeds!
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss

Simply put, RSS is like a magazine subscription. You subscribe to certain site. New information will automatically downloaded to you instead of you going to that site checking if they have new information.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is a type of feeds in website, which allows user to be updated with the Latest updates of desired website. This can be used with Blogs also.

RSS is used to allow other users to easily access your content (often news or blog messages) and add them to their site (or do whatever they want with it, in legal limits, of course). You can allow others to syndicate your content by providing the RSS file. Since RSS is a standard, all RSS files are sure to work if the code that reads and processes them is working correctly (and the RSS is valid). And it is stands for Really Simply Syndication.

Hope it helps you.

RSS is a technology that is being used by millions of web users around the world to keep track of their favorite websites.

In the ‘old days’ of the web to keep track of updates on a website you had to ‘bookmark’ websites in your browser and manually return to them on a regular basis to see what had been added.

"RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish often updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS document, which is called a "feed," "web feed," or "channel," contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that's easier than checking them manually.
RSS content can be read using software called an "RSS reader," "feed reader" or an "aggregator." The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that begins the subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds often for new content, downloading any updates that it finds.

The letters "RSS" are used to refer to the following formats:
Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)
RDF Site Summary (RSS 1.0 and RSS 0.90)
Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)
RSS formats are specified using XML, a generic specification for the creation of data formats."
Source and further information:
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Really_Simple_Syndication

Further information:
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/578293
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/666781
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS


There are some RSS feeds for Answerbag, you can find some on the left under the category list.
Or look at this page:
http://www.answerbag.com/rss/about

A system to allow hackers and that is why you should care.