RSS is a data format for syndicating content on the World Wide Web. Technically, there are a few different versions of RSS in existence and depending on who you’re talking to, RSS is an acronym for a few different things:
- Really Simple Syndication
- Rich Site Summary
- RDF Site Summary
How RSS works
RSS works by taking a set of information and breaking it down into a collection of identifable items. For example, an RSS feed for a newspaper’s site might gather up the most recently published stories and break them down so the RSS file contains one RSS item for each headline. The end result is an RSS feed of the newspaper’s recently published headlines.
The RSS feed for Of Zen and Computing might be visualized like this:
| Title | Link | Date Published |
|---|---|---|
| How to right-click on a Mac | http://www.ofzenandcomputing.com/zanswers/128 | Sun, 09 Jul 2006 16:38:47 +0000 |
| What cookies are and how to delete them | http://www.ofzenandcomputing.com/zanswers/127 | Thu, 29 Jun 2006 05:04:22 +0000 |
| The difference between a PC and a Mac | http://www.ofzenandcomputing.com/zanswers/126 | Thu, 29 Jun 2006 04:24:16 +0000 |
* This is a simplified visualization of the items in an RSS feed. An actual RSS feed contains more details such as the author, an excerpt or teaser paragraph, and categories. Some feeds may even carry the full content of their item.
How people and services make use of RSS feeds
Software can be used to download RSS feeds and work with the data they contain. People can stay abreast of updates to RSS-enabled sites by using a program called an aggregator or a feed reader to subscribe to those sites’ RSS feeds and regularly deliver the updates that are published. Here’s what the RSS headlines for Of Zen and Computing look like, presented by an RSS feed reader that has just downloaded them:
Services such as Google’s Personalized Homepage obtain the information they offer by downloading RSS feeds of the sites that you have subscribed to. The same Of Zen and Computing headlines mentioned earlier would appear on a Google Personalized Homepage like so:
Uses for RSS
RSS is not limited to delivering the news. Any sort of data that can be broken down and organized with a list can be syndicated with RSS. Examples:
- Traffic information
- Airline delays
- Real Estate listings
- Sports scores
- Weather updates
Identifying RSS-enabled sites
Most RSS-enabled sites will display an orange RSS icon 
either in the address bar of your browser, alongside links to their feeds, or both.
Some RSS software
Mozilla Thunderbird, cross-platform
SharpReader RSS Aggregator, Windows
NetNewsWire, Mac
20 responses
July 11th, 2006
Lifehacker says:
RSS for newbies…
Plain talk tech site Of Zen and Computing writes up a simple explanation of what RSS is and how it works: RSS works by taking a set of information and breaking it down into a collection of identifable items…….
July 11th, 2006
the white matter of kaiser » RSS for “non-techs” says:
[…] For the most part, the people who i wanted to understand RSS, and tried to explain it to them, probably still don’t get it. This should be much easier. […]
July 11th, 2006
E L S U A ~ A KM Blog » Blog Archive » RSS for Newbies says:
[…] Gina Trapani has actually shared a link, via Lifehacker, to a very good resource that I am sure I would be making use of it quite often in my quest to help more people understand a bit more and adopt this so-called social software hype. Indeed, in RSS for newbies Gina actually points out to the following article: A non-technical explanation of RSS where you would be able to find one of the most comprehensive, easier to understand, articles on what RSS is all about and how to get started with it not only from the perspective of understanding some of the concepts in place but also by showing you a couple of tools or offerings you could use, both from an offline feed client perspective or from a web syndication offering perspective. Either way would work. […]
July 11th, 2006
Jet Grrl » Blog Archive » links for 2006-07-14 says:
[…] A non-technical explanation of RSS (tags: HowTo Tech WebDesign) Posted by seahawk Filed in Uncategorized […]
July 11th, 2006
Gilles Dubois Bookmarks » links for 2006-07-14 says:
[…] A non-technical explanation of RSS (tags: rss) […]
July 11th, 2006
Plod says:
links for 2006-07-14…
Boom bag by GRODesign (tags: cool Design product) Amazon Simple Sorage Service(S3) (tags: webservices storage) 兰博基尼原产皮质鼠标垫 (tags: gadget auto car Mouse) Yahoo! Mail Beta v0.3.1 Build 209.24 (tags: Yahoo) VMware Server免费了 (t…
July 11th, 2006
Plod On Planet Opera says:
links for 2006-07-14…
Boom bag by GRODesignAmazon Simple Sorage Service(S3)[url=htt ……
July 11th, 2006
Urban Jacksonville - A blog about Downtown Jacksonville, Springfield, La Villa, Brooklyn, the Southbank and San Marco. » Blog Archive » Get Urban Jacksonville in your inbox says:
[…] I added a new feature this week that allows you to have Urban Jacksonville delivered daily to your inbox. The screenshot above shows exactly what it looks like in your inbox. You can unsubscribe at anytime and I don’t do anything with your email address. RSS is so overrated anyway. […]
July 11th, 2006
Digital Citizen » Blog Archive » links for 2006-07-13 says:
[…] A non-technical explanation of RSS (tags: rss) […]
July 11th, 2006
Confluence: IRC-IT says:
A non-technical explanation of RSS…
The blog entry at…
July 11th, 2006
NEKLS Technology Weblog » A non-technical explanation of RSS says:
[…] Read More: A non-technical explanation of RSS […]
July 11th, 2006
‘Cross The Breeze » Blog Archive » How to explain RSS to your grandma says:
[…] This is exactly the title of a post on downloadsquad a few days ago. There are some things in life – especially in technology – that are so easy once you understand it, but boy what are they hard to explain. RSS is exactly one of those things. It couldn’t be any easier, but have you ever tried to explain it to a non-technical person? So reading the title, I thought this is it, a Real Simple Explanation for Real Simple Syndication! […]
July 11th, 2006
Richie’s Space » How to explain RSS to your grandma says:
[…] The appropriately-named Of Zen and Computing has an article that’s been making the rounds lately, called A non-technical explanation of RSS. It is what it claims to be: A short, easy-to-parse description of what feeds are, how to find them, and how to read them, for people who aren’t geeks. Or at least not internet geeks (I have a theory that everybody is some kind of geek–model railroad geek, sports geek, reality TV geek–but I digress). So bookmark this link and the next time a terminally non-technical friend/spouse/relative/boss asks you WTF is RSS, you’ll have an answer. Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
July 11th, 2006
Cleaning My RSS « Andys Techie Blog says:
[…] A non technical explaination of RSS […]
July 11th, 2006
MondoBlog » Blog » Fast RSS Links Collection - Num 4 says:
[…] A non-technical explanation of RSS […]
July 11th, 2006
Business Communication Headline News says:
A Non-Technical Explanation of RSS…
A non-technical explanation
of RSS (via a non-technical
explanation of rss - Google
Search)
…
July 11th, 2006
Podcasting In Plain English says:
[…] For more information about RSS, see A non-technical explanation of RSS. […]
July 11th, 2006
Subscribe To Arteccentrix RSS Feed « Arteccentrix Art Blog says:
[…] (This is a very basic intro to RSS but I hope it will enable you to understand a littlemore about why RSS feeds can save you so much time. For people using feed readers you probably don’t need this information, but if you would like to use a feed reader rather than one of the options outlined above a good place to start learning about the whole RSS revolution would be A Non Technical Explanation Of RSS - simply written for those of us who are not internet geeks :-) […]
July 11th, 2006
Guest Blogger : Of Zen and Computing - mattherzberger.com says:
[…] I just got an invite from Tom of “Of Zen and Computing” to become a guest blogger for his site. I have liked this site for awhile and will post comments their from time to time. There are great basic tutorials called “clear answers to common computing questions” very basis tutorials but very helpful. When I special about social networking and RSS I always provide people with a link to the post “A non-technical explaination of RSS“. As I told Tom I am very excited about this opportunity. He will be introducing me on his site this weekend, and I will be holding down the fort while he is out of town next week. […]
July 11th, 2006
Shane and Jason’s Germany Blog » Blog Archive » A note about RSS readers… says:
[…] A non-technical explanation of RSS [for beginners] […]