Here's a question I'd be interested in comments on: how important is it for Atom to be backed by a standards organization? There's a discussion going on right now about whether it should be go with the W3C or the IETF. Setting that question aside for now, what impact would either have on the future...
[read more]

Atom is the outgrowth of a number of people's desire to fix several problems of the RSS specification. Because those exercising influence in the RSS community were not open to the kinds of changes being proposed, a new format was created. If you're reading this, you probably already know that, but here's the point: Atom...
[read more]

All digest formats support some method for referring to content that isn't delivered within the feed. Linked content falls into two categories: content to which the feed refers, and content intended to be displayed within the feed. When a feed reader loads a digest, it can pre-fetch the linked content. But is this desirable?

The...
[read more]

RSS (0.91+ and 2.0) and Info Bite List support the use of a "rating" element to rate a feed. The most common domain used in this element is PICS. I learned today that "PICS" does not refer to a particular rating system, but defines a method of specifying rating systems. Perhaps the most commonly used...
[read more]

Yesterday's English to Korean to English experience notwithstanding, an automated system to translate newsfeeds between languages could be extremely useful. Publishers and readers alike would benefit as the audience for newsfeeds expanded. I'm not aware of any existing service to translate newsfeeds, but another option, imperfect as it may be, does exist: the venerable, if...
[read more]

You know how I'm always harping on the need to minimize bandwidth consumption by feed readers? Here's an idea that could help: automatic refresh interval adjustment. Some feeds are updated daily. Some are updated every few minutes. Some are updated every few months. Those that are updated infrequently don't need to be refreshed as often,...
[read more]

Yesterday, I was reading an article somewhere that mentioned in passing that RSS 2.0 is more widely deployed than 1.0 because it's easier. The part of me that has been influenced by Dilbert is arguing that it's really because CEOs are demanding, over the objections of engineers, that they use 2.0 because it's the latest...
[read more]

After a wait longer than the fiasco after the 2000 presidential election, the results are in. And the winner is...the candidate with the second greatest number of votes! From the general populous that is. The candidate with the most votes from the electoral college of judges won the day. "Webfeed" was selected last week as...
[read more]

Am I contradicting myself again? Yesterday the question was "to embrace or to extend?" No, I'm just talking about a related, but separate issue. When a digest format doesn't support something you want or need to do, do you try to get it into the spec, or create an extension?

One of the current issues...
[read more]

One of the many bones of contention in RSS is the introduction of new elements that duplicate the purpose of existing elements. For example, many feeds use content:encoded in the place of description. Is it better to embrace existing elements, or to extend the format with similar elements?

What is the motivation for using elements...
[read more]