subject: What is RSS and how can we use it? [print this page] What is RSS and how can we use it? What is RSS and how can we use it?
What is RSS?
RSS or shall i sayReally Simple Syndication, is the latest innovation in technology that helps you get trough the day. It gives you the ability to follow all updates automatically on any website that supports it. You can bookmark the page or you can add it to supporting software or e-mail software to stay up-to-date.
RSS has been developped by Dan Libby for Netscape and was integrated for the first time in March 1999. Since April 2001, Netscape no longer supports RSS and it was Dave Winer who further developed RSS within his company Radio Userland. These days Netscape supports RSS again as it is impossible to deny such big evolution.
Where can i find RSS?
Whenever you are visiting news websites, blogs or any other web 2.0 websites, you might have noticed the small RSS icon. There are several places where you can find it, normally you can find it in the address bar on the right or on the website itself. In some cases both can be found. If you follow trough the link you will arrive on the RSS page which you can then bookmark to follow.
If you would like to learn more about RSS, then i can definitely advise you this e-book, it is where i have learned everything from.
What is scraping?
When you encounter a website that doesn't feature RSS but you would desperately be up-to-date of the website's activity, then you could use a RSS scraper to create a custom RSS for you.
