What is RSS and why should I care?

[worchyld]

I've noticed quite a few sites with this XML/RSS feed stuff - of course most of them are blogs - I've just made my site (offline only) CSS/XHTML valid and I'm just putting the finishing touches to my own blog system.

I have no interest in downloading movable type/blogger - I want to learn the concepts myself.

I still don't understand why I would want to use it - its a bit like XML - I don't understand why I would want to use it when I have my database and a dynamic script (ie: PHP) to get my data - so I see XML as pretty much useless.

Is RSS the same as XML?
1) What is RSS and why should I care?
2) What is the difference between pulling out data from a database and RSS?
3) Is RSS good for disabled users?
4) What is an RSS aggerator? Do I need to install this on my server to make RSS work?
5) What does RSS do that PHP doesn't - how are they related?
6) I've been reading that I pull my data from the database and make it RSS compliant - is that right?
7) Does a RSS only page require a stylesheet to make it human readable?

Thanks.

[stuartc1]

RSS is just a form of XML that is designed for news headline sharing. Its a kind of standard on the internet these days

[itsyM]

Originally Posted by worchyld

I still don't understand why I would want to use it - its a bit like XML - I don't understand why I would want to use it when I have my database

Yes, YOU have your database but users that would like to get your news on their sites (or in their readers etc.) don't. They can't just access your database and pull out the headlines etc. unless there's something horribly wrong with your server / database security (or the users have rights to do so).

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).

There are also special RSS readers that can display news for example on your desktop. If you want these readers to be able to read your news, just write or generate valid RSS file and provide a link to it.

Is RSS the same as XML?

RSS is written in XML (an application of XML).

1) What is RSS and why should I care?

http://searchwebservices.techtarget....813358,00.html

2) What is the difference between pulling out data from a database and RSS?

RSS is used to give others easy access to your published content.

3) Is RSS good for disabled users?

Depends on how the receiving end processes it (converts it to valid and well marked-up XHTML, for example). RSS is only a way to describe your content in a standard way.

4) What is an RSS aggerator? Do I need to install this on my server to make RSS work?

A news aggregator is "software that periodically reads a set of news sources, in one of several XML-based formats, finds the new bits, and displays them in reverse-chronological order on a single page."

You don't need one to make RSS work.

http://davenet.userland.com/2002/10/...NewsAggregator

5) What does RSS do that PHP doesn't - how are they related?

PHP is a programming / scripting language while RSS is an application of XML that is used to describe data. PHP is used to parse RSS files, they aren't really related. You can parse RSS files with the language you choose.

6) I've been reading that I pull my data from the database and make it RSS compliant - is that right?

I don't undestand the question, sorry Pulling data out of database does not make it RSS compliant.

7) Does a RSS only page require a stylesheet to make it human readable?

RSS needs to be parsed with a language that can parse text files (read: any language, or at least almost There are articles here at Sitepoint. Search for RSS.

Thanks.

No problem.

[worchyld]

Thanks alot, you answered my questions.

I read somewhere that once you've pulled out the data from your database you have to run it through an RSS parser - this makes the data RSS compliant...

I may have mis-read this.

[Hulkur]

It's like your page - you pull your data and make it into HTML,
in RSS you make it into XML

[worchyld]

I see, thanks a lot...