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Adam Learns notes

RSS

Created: 2020-05-29 13:39:16 -0700 Modified: 2020-05-29 13:43:10 -0700

Introduction/basics

Section titled Introduction/basics

These are just some quick RSS notes from when I wanted to implement a feed for my blog.

  • Implementing an RSS feed is as simple as putting an XML file on your site.
    • The XML file must adhere to the spec (made in the early 2000s). There are libraries to do this for you in tons of languages so that you don’t have to worry about the formatting.
    • There’s an RSS XML validator on the same site as the spec
    • Your XML file can be named anything and placed wherever you want. You’ll typically add a <link> tag to indicate where it is, e.g.

<link

rel=“alternate”

type=“application/rss+xml”

title=“RSS feed for blog posts on Adam Learns”

href=“/blog/blog_rss_feed.xml”

/>

  • People with RSS readers would then just point at your whole site, and the reader would know how to fetch the feed.

  • The XML file usually only contains the last X posts/entries/items, maybe about 10.

  • You would typically make a different RSS feed for each type of item. For example, don’t combine a blog post feed with a podcast feed.