Better RSS

Thereís a good post on Writing the Web about RSS ó Six tips for better RSS feeds. Most of the tips are common-sense but there is some good hints such as the use of the <comments> tag and advice on writing headlines that make sense when read out of context ó

Most RSS feeds are automagically generated from a content management system. As more feeds spring up, and more content is consumed through an RSS aggregator, content producers will need to think about how to create quality RSS feeds. Whether you use RSS for full content syndication, headline notification, or some other purpose, these tips should help you create a better feed.

Iíve also just started using NetNewsWire again to quickly glean news from a variety of sources, and itís a timely reminder to me that there are a certain number of people who read the content on this site without actually visiting it.

Posted 6 years, 1 month ago

Absolutely. This is particularly important when I’m on dial-up because it is so much less time consuming. I use a website service called Bloglines so that no matter where I am, I can log on and read my favourite rss feeds. My favourite feeds are a rare combination of good quality and full content. I only tend to go to the actual blog site if I want to make a comment... such as now.

mars · 6 years, 1 month ago

Cheers mars, thanks for dropping by ;-)

Incidentally it was intrigued by the Atom XML format, but I’ve noticed that NetNewsWire seems to have problems displaying it correctly, so I’ve stuck with RSS 2.0.

Phil · www · 6 years, 1 month ago

Good advice.

This triggered me to set up an RSS feed for Cloven Hoof. However, I’ve decided to write a short summary of each article rather than post the full thing. I want to keep the RSS feed lean and mean after all. ;)

Thanks for the link Phil.

Tommy · www · 6 years, 1 month ago

I forgot to ask, is there a site for the Atom XML format? I can’t seem to find anything useful on Google. :|

Tommy · www · 6 years, 1 month ago

Much appreciated. :)

Tommy · www · 6 years, 1 month ago

A lot of the experience with being in the blogosphere has to do with visiting other blogs - I use NetNewsWire myself - but only to keep track of new posts - when someone has made a post, I jump directly to the site, and read the post there - in the environment where it was meant to be read.

Michel · www · 6 years, 1 month ago

Phil, you’ll be pleased to hear that the latest NetNewsWire beta has improved support for the Atom XML format. ;)

Tommy · www · 6 years, 1 month ago

Although I use NetNewsWire, I tend to use FeedDemon on PC. The main reason for this is that I usually check all the blogs I read first thing in the morning when I start work, and I work on a PC. My time on the Mac is my leisure time.

FeedDemon has a rather nice feature that lets me display the article in it’s HTML form, rather than the usual way. This way, I don’t lose out on the identity/design of the site I’m reading. Otherwise it’s all too easy to lose track of whose site you are reading in an aggregator.

Snowman · www · 6 years ago

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My name is Phil Lindsay, a web guy from Scotland, now living in Newcastle upon Tyne in England. I also run a web design company called Presence. You can email me at phil@xlab.co.uk, read more ramblings on my Twitter stream and view my photos on Flickr. You can grab the RSS feed for this weblog here.