How to Build an RSS 2.0 Feed

Mark Woodman

Copyright © 2006 O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Abstract

The little orange "feed" icons are everywhere on the Web. From search engines to shopping sites to blogs, Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0) has become one of the hottest web technologies going. RSS 2.0 has become a powerfully easy way to distributing timely content to a web-based audience.

This tutorial will give you the hands-on knowledge you need to build an RSS 2.0 feed. Along the way you'll learn not only the mechanics of building a feed, but industry-accepted best practices for creating feeds that perform well in various situations.

Are you ready? Roll up your sleeves, crack open a text editor, and let's build some feeds.

The little orange "feed" icons are everywhere on the Web. From search engines to shopping sites to blogs, Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0) has become one of the hottest web technologies going. RSS 2.0 is a powerfully easy way to distribute timely content to a web-based audience.

This tutorial will give you the hands-on knowledge you need to build an RSS 2.0 feed. Along the way you'll learn not only the mechanics of building a feed, but industry-accepted best practices for creating feeds that perform well in various situations.

Before we start building feeds, it is important to look at how the technologies behind RSS work.

How an RSS Feed Works

Let's consider a scenario that happens ...