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Accessing RSS resources
Ed Tittel
As I mentioned in a recent tip on the subject of the XML Rich Site Summary or RSS vocabulary, "An RSS reader or client is ... required for consumers to access RSS directories." What I didn't say is what happens if you try to access RSS information directly through your Web browser without using such a tool. Alas, as many readers observed to me somewhat plaintively via e-mail, all such inspection produces is a listing of RSS markup, formatted using whatever mechanisms your browser puts to work on "unknown XML" by default. Since this can range from a solid mass of mostly unreadable text, to a nicely-nested listing of XML elements, attributes, and values, neither outcome is exactly what you'd call desirable. Sadly, this makes it downright difficult to appreciate the many legitimate benefits that RSS can deliver.
Thus, I'll start this week's tip by apologizing for not making this point more forcefully, and for not explaining the outcome if the point is overlooked or ignored. In my earlier tip on RSS, I mentioned several RSS clients/readers, as follows:
I like the term "reader" to describe the client software's role in working with RSS, because in much the same way one might use a news reader to subscribe to NNTP based newsfeeds, so also might one use an RSS reader to subscribe to RSS based feeds as well. This probably explains why some newsreaders include RSS handling capabilities, as with the NewsCrawler and Headline Viewer that appear in the preceding list.
Thanks to a great story on the subject of RSS readers at XML.com by John Simpson I recently learned about a freeware RSS reader for Windows named FeedReader 2.5; downloads available from www.sourceforge.net). It's a snap to download, install, and use. As I've already suggested, the newsreader metaphor is pretty apt:
- RSS directories show up as folders in the left-hand pane. By default, moreover, NewsIs Free, and Estonian feeds (a version of the software is available in Estonian, a quick check of the About information shows that the lead developer is Estonian) are provided. It's easy to add more using the New menu button, but formatting the URLs to meet RSS syntax requirements can be tricky. It took me all of 5 minutes to find the right format for O'Reilly's Meerkat service in their user help files, so I wasn't alone in noodling about a bit before figuring things out.
- RSS feeds show up in the left hand pane, select one, and available items show up in the top right pane; click one, and obvious controls to read content make themselves available. As the marker often says "Read on."
OK, now I hope I've repaired the deficiencies in my earlier tip that tantalized but failed to make an RSS connection completely real. Go and investigate what RSS can do and how it's being used. I think it'll make you want to learn more and use it yourself (a goal for which my other tip is eminently qualified to help)!
About the Author
Ed Tittel is a 20-plus year veteran of the computing industry, who's worked as a programmer, manager, systems engineer, instructor, writer, trainer, and consultant. He's also the series editor of Que Certification's Exam Cram 2 and Training Guide series, and writes and teaches regularly on Web markup languages and related topics.
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