Making Headlines with RSS
Using Rich Site Summaries To Draw New Visitors
By Jonathan Eisenzopf
In the early years of the Web, most sites were not concerned about sharing data with other sites. Today, the trend is that sites are increasingly interdependent and many rely upon integrating content that originates somewhere else. Such content might include news feeds, events listings, a set of project updates, and even interchange of corporate information. Effective integration usually requires a good deal of effort on the part of the information provider, as well as the recipient of each unique data source.
Sharing content among sites is most often called syndication, a term we associate with licensed content such as TV reruns and newspaper columns. Providing content from one source for distribution in many different channels is what a syndicate does, and it usually requires an established business relationship. Companies like iSyndicate.com and specifications such as Internet Content Exchange (ICE) are examples of attempts to apply the traditional syndication model to the Web. (For more information on ICE, see "Self-Service Syndication with ICE," Web Techniques, November 1999.) However, the Web also offers a new open-ended syndication model that's hardly traditional.
The basis for this new model is an XML-based format known as Rich Site Summary. RSS was first developed by Netscape to drive channels for Netscape Netcenter. Netscape no longer seems to be leading the RSS effort, but others, such as Dave Winer of Userland Software, have picked it up.
