RSS is a dialect of XML. All RSS files must conform to the XML 1.0 specification, as published on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) website.

RSS is a Web content syndication format. It stands for Really Simple Syndication.

So, what is it used? RSS is one of the most efficient ways of keeping visitors up to date with latest news on a website. Basically you need to configure your website to export the latest news (or whatever you wish to serve as news) as a feed using the RSS format and visitors only need to configure a client to update its database using that feed.


This way, visitors can be up to date with changes on various websites fast and without having to look at hundreds of pages.

Although there are various versions, a client (aggregator) should be able to support them all, or at least the last version (which is also most used) 2.0.

RSS became used on a larger scale after it was introduced in Blogs and news related websites, the advantage being noticed since the beginning

Here is an example of an RSS 2.0 feed file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
 <channel>
 <title>Birthday Bash Interviews</title>
 <link>http://kccnfm100.com/</link>
 <description>Natural Vibrations.</description>

 <language>en-us</language>
 <pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2003 04:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
 <lastBuildDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2003 09:41:01 GMT</lastBuildDate>
 <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
 <generator>Weblog Editor 2.0</generator>
 <managingEditor>[email protected]</managingEditor>
 <webMaster>[email protected]</webMaster>

 <item>
 <title>Star City</title>
 <link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2003/news-starcity.asp</link>
 <description>How do Americans get ready to work with Russians aboard the
 International Space Station? They take a crash course in culture, language
 and protocol at Russia's Star City.</description>
 <pubDate>Tue, 03 Jun 2003 09:39:21 GMT</pubDate>
 <guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/06/03.html#item573</guid>
 </item>

 <item>
 <description>Sky watchers in Europe, Asia, and parts of Alaska and Canada
 will experience a partial eclipse of the Sun on Saturday, May 31st.</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2003 11:06:42 GMT</pubDate>
 <guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/05/30.html#item572</guid>
 </item>

 <item>
 <title>The Engine That Does More</title>
 <link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2003/news-VASIMR.asp</link>
 <description>Before man travels to Mars, NASA hopes to design new engines
 that will let us fly through the Solar System more quickly.  The proposed
 VASIMR engine would do that.</description>
 <pubDate>Tue, 27 May 2003 08:37:32 GMT</pubDate>
 <guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/05/27.html#item571</guid>
 </item>

 <item>
 <title>Astronauts' Dirty Laundry</title>
 <link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2003/news-laundry.asp</link>
 <description>Compared to earlier spacecraft, the International Space
 Station has many luxuries, but laundry facilities are not one of them.
 Instead, astronauts have other options.</description>
 <pubDate>Tue, 20 May 2003 08:56:02 GMT</pubDate>
 <guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/05/20.html#item570</guid>
 </item>

 </channel>
 </rss> 

If you are looking for a client, there are lots right now on the market, most of them free, my personal choice being GreatNews - simple, easy to use, with great functionality.

Related websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html