RSS 0.90: Netscape's Simple Syndication

I have a list of about 30 websites I check every morning. Slashdot, Wired, a few personal blogs, and several tech news sites. I spend half an hour just clicking "refresh" to see if there’s anything new. It’s a waste of time.

Netscape's "My Netscape" portal has just introduced a solution: RSS (RDF Site Summary, or Really Simple Syndication).

Metadata for the Web

RSS is a simple XML application. A website provides an rss file that lists its latest headlines and links. Instead of visiting the site, your browser (or a specialized "aggregator") just polls that one small file.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="0.91">
  <channel>
    <title>My Dev Blog</title>
    <link>http://www.example.com/</link>
    <description>Latest thoughts on code.</description>
    <item>
      <title>Why I Love RSS</title>
      <link>http://www.example.com/rss-post</link>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

The End of the Portal?

Netscape created this to feed their own portal, but the implications are much bigger. This decouples the content from the presentation. I don't need to see your flashing banner ads or your complex navigation menus; I just want your headlines.

The "Push" We Actually Wanted

Remember "Push" technology like PointCast? It was bloated and crashed your system. RSS is the "lightweight" version of that dream. It’s voluntary, it’s standard-based, and it’s incredibly efficient.

I suspect we’re going to see an explosion of RSS feeds. Every blog, every news site, every forum should have one. It turns the web from a "pull" medium where you go looking for info, into a "subscribe" medium where the info you care about finds you.