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Report of the 2006 RSS Evaluation TeamExecutive SummaryRSS is a web feed, to which users or consumers of information can subscribe. Aggregators are consumer tools that read web feeds. At Penn, web-based aggregators are more convenient and somewhat preferred over browser plug-in or standalone aggregators. Tools are emerging for web feed content providers to create RSS feeds for their subscribers more easily. RSS is an XML technology. RSS 2.0 is currently the most prevalent web feed format, although Atom 1.0 shows promise. The security and policy considerations that apply to creating web sites also apply to creating RSS feeds. Like podcasting, RSS web feed syndication implies a provider's commitment to provide regular content to subscribers. BasicsRSS is a web feed which lists summaries or headlines of recent web content, with links to the full articles. Users subscribe to such feeds to receive notice of new content. A program called an aggregator is used to check a list of feeds and display any available updated articles for a user. Use of aggregators can be a timesaving tool to facilitate a user's intake of information from various web sites. AggregatorsAn aggregator (or feed reader) is a tool for the end-user, or consumer, of web feeds. Aggregators come in several varieties: web-based, browser plug-in or extension, and standalone client. The RSS Evaluation Team looked at examples of each kind of aggregator. Web-based aggregators are popular, easy to use, and offer location independence. Some suggested web-based aggregators which the Team evaluated and especially liked, include:
Web browser plug-ins or extensions can enable your web browser to begin receiving and processing web feeds. While there are many plug-ins available, the dominant and Team-suggested plug-in of choice is Sage (http://sage.mozdev.org/). There are many standalone aggregators for Windows and Mac OS (including aggregator widgets for Mac OS 10.4.x), but there is no dominant player that the Team especially liked. One example for Mac OS is NetNewsWire Lite, but the Lite version is not feature-rich and users may be better off using a web-based or plug-in such as Sage. More information and a link to the Team's evaluation of aggregators are available on the Team web page. Web Development ToolsWhile there are many aggregators for consumers to use, there are fewer turnkey solutions and applications for content providers and other producers of web feeds. RSS uses relatively simple XML. Units with access to a programmer may find that the most effective approach is to create a custom script (in AJAX or PHP or Perl) and have it run periodically to find new material and generate a web feed. The Team looked at RSS DreamFeeder, a commercial Dreamweaver extension that searches a page, a directory, or an entire website and creates RSS feeds of new content. RSS DreamFeeder runs in Dreamweaver on both Windows and Mac OS X. It does not run in Contribute. The Team found that RSS DreamFeeder (http://www.rnsoft.com/en/products/rssdreamfeeder) does an adequate job of creating RSS web feeds, but the content provider must use Dreamweaver and code his HTML in a consistent manner (well-formed HTML with structural tags). Otherwise, RSS DreamFeeder has a difficult time identifying new material. The "casual" content provider may be interested in "re-publishing" others' content (sharing). Early examples of this ability include Google Reader (http://reader.google.com). The Team suggests an eye be kept on related, developing technologies which will enable content providers to easily re-publish content from other sources. The Team also compiled a list of other solutions and resources for content providers, see http://prowiki.isc-csg.upenn.edu:16080/index.php/RSS#Resources Web Feed FormatsThere are three relevant web feed formats (XML schemas):
RSS 1.0 is not common. RSS 2.0 currently appears to be the prevailing standard, but this may change. RSS 2.0 is prevalent at Penn. Examples include the Penn Library, University Communications, and Knowledge@Wharton. Many news departments of our peer organizations (Brown, Harvard, Stanford, etc.) also use RSS 2.0, and so do many commercial websites (New York Times, BBC, CNN, etc.). Atom 1.0 is relatively new and has the promise to be adopted as a standard by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), but to date Atom usage is not common. This may change over the next year or two. In the meantime, most RSS aggregators will read any of the three main web feed formats. Miscellaneous IssuesWhile security is certainly an important computing consideration, encrypting RSS traffic is generally not practiced for typical web feeds. At this time, the best practice for those who need to create secured or encrypted web feeds would be to follow established practices for other secured or encrypted websites. Deciding to provide web feeds is making a commitment to provide fresh content on a regular basis. Like a well-produced printed periodical, syndication of content must occur reliably and regularly, or you risk losing subscribers. Publishing RSS web feeds is becoming easier over time. As with material on web sites, content providers should always consider intellectual property rights to ensure they do not include others' copyrighted material in their web feeds without permission. Best practice will provide each RSS page with a style sheet (CSS or XSLT), so that web surfers will see an intelligible layout when they look at the page in a web browser. For More Informationhttp://www.upenn.edu/computing/eval/2006/rss/ RSS Evaluation Team Wiki page:
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