What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" (also sometimes called "Rich Site Summary" or "RDF Site Summary"). RSS is a format that web sites can use to syndicate content.
Syndication's benefits: instead of visiting multiple web sites to see what's new, a reader can simply scan headlines or brief article summaries and click to read the full text.
There are many uses for RSS, but the most common uses are displaying headlines or titles of articles on other websites, and aggregating (gathering) RSS feeds of many sites into one place.
Various areas in OSU are experimenting with RSS feeds of important news.
The OIT System Status page is one example: XML
The OIT Support Center: Ten Newest Entries is another: XML
The OSU home page hosts a great collection of OSU-related RSS Feeds
RSS feeds don't do much on their own. In order to "use" RSS, you'll need an RSS reader (sometimes called an Aggregator). There are many pages with lists of aggregators, but this list of readers is a good starting point. You may already be using a program which offers RSS support, such as Mozilla Firefox or Thunderbird. Additionally, there are web sites such as Google Reader, Bloglines and My Yahoo which allow you to set up your own customized RSS subscriptions.
Additional resources can be found at the following websites:
- Google Feeds 101
- All About RSS
- O'Reilly Getting Started Topics
- Version information: RSS 0.91
- Version information: RSS 0.92
- Version information: RSS 2.0 Specification at Harvard
Current Record: 1685
Create Date: 03-24-2004
Last Reviewed: 08-21-2009
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