Getting to Know Web Syndication

How often you have come across terms like Web syndication, RSS feeds, Web feeds? I think quite a lot in the past few years. These are the words that grabbed my attention too but not enough to look out for them at the first instance (I blame the procrastinator in me for it). Now, I feel that a lot has been said and talked about them and they can no longer be ignored in the context of Web. This article is an attempt to collate my understanding on syndication and related aspects; in the whole process, I feel I will myself better be able to consolidate my thoughts and awareness around this topic.
Think of Web syndication as backbone of the very popular use of ‘feeds,’ in today’s context. Let’s look at it like this – You visit a ‘technical gadgets review’ blog and the entries therein interest you. You think that the upcoming blog posts might also talk of information and analysis that will be worthy of note. So, what you do next is subscribe to this blog (via feeds). As a result, whenever any update occurs on that blog, you get to know of it via your browser. Many of us do it, many of us don’t. Many of us understand the ‘How’ behind it, many of us don’t.

What is it?

Web syndication refers to making content of one Web site available to multiple other Web sites. Sometimes also known as ‘subscribing,’ it is a feature that enables the end users to read updates from different Web sites without visiting each one of them individually.

How does that happen?

Web syndication is about making feeds available from a Web site. People can subscribe to these feeds and keep themselves updated of the latest information on a Web site for which they have subscribed the feeds.

What are feeds?

Feeds, RSS, RSS feeds, XML feeds, syndicated content, syndicated feed, and Web feeds are words that mean the same thing. Yes, they are synonyms in the technical Web jargon and refer to a file, an XML document, containing frequently updated content posted on a Web site. It can contain either summary (with link to the full text) or full text of the updated content, plus related metadata such as publishing dates and authorship details. You can consider feeds as Web pages that are meant to be read by computers and not people. These XML files are formatted in a way to be read by feed readers or aggregators. (Hold that thought right there; we’ll look at feed readers in a while.)

There are mainly two formats in which feeds appear: RSS (really simple syndication) and Atom. Both the formats are based on XML and are constantly being updated with new versions. (I am intentionally skipping the technicalities that make the two different.)

What is the difference between a feed and a Web site?

A feed might have the same content as the Web pages of a Web site however in a different format. In addition, the feed gives you access to the content that is posted or updated since you last visited the feed---this helps you view only the new content, unlike a Web site.

Who publishes feeds?

Anyone who publishes content on a Web site can publish a feed. The publisher can publish a single feed for an entire Web page or multiple feeds relating to different sections of a Web page.

For which Web sites are feeds used?

Feeds are used the most for blogs and news Web sites for the obvious reason that their Web pages are updated with content frequently; however, feeds are also used to deliver other digital content such as audios, videos and pictures. (Podcasting also uses feeds.)

How to use feeds?

To use feeds, one needs to:

1. have a feed reader and
2. subscribe to the feeds.

What is a feed reader?

It is a specialized software application that checks the feeds and provides the end user with all the updates made to a Web site(s). It is designed to read feeds from multiple sources/Web sites. In short, a typical feed reader will, for the subscribed Web pages, check the updates, download them, and provide a user interface for end users to read the updates.

Are there different kinds of feed readers?

Yes, there are primarily five types of feed readers:

1. Web-based feed readers (e.g., Google reader, MyYahoo): If you want to read all your feeds within your Web browser, go for the Web-based feed reader. It allows you to access your feed subscriptions from any computer. You just need to sign in to the Web site that manages your feeds.
   
   
2. Desktop feed readers (e.g., FeedDemon and FeedReader for Windows): If you want to read all your feeds apart from your browser, you need to install a desktop feed reader. It has technically advanced features than a Web-based feed reader. It allows you to download and store the updates on the computer that has this reader installed, even if you are offline. While selecting this feed reader, choose the one that works well with your computer because different feed readers work well on different operating systems.
   
   
3. Browser built-in feed readers (e.g., Firefox’s Live Bookmarks, IE7’s Feeds and Favorites): New browsers, such as Firefox, IE7, Opera, or Safari, have built-in feed readers.
   
   
4. Email-based feed readers (Google Alerts, Mozilla Thunderbird): If you want all your feeds delivered via your email, get the email-based feed readers.
   
   
5. Mobile feed readers (Google mobile, yahoo mobile): If you want to read your feeds on your mobile device, getting this one would be a good idea.

Which software to install?

If you wish to read your feeds on a computer and not very keen on a specific format (say, email), you need not install or download any software provided you use any of the modern browsers such as IE 7, Firefox, or Safari. These browsers provide support for the feeds. For example, in IE7, if you activate the Commands Bar, you will see the RSS feed icon at the second position from left. This icon usually appears grey however turns orange if the Web site you are exploring offers feeds. On the other hand, while using Firefox, you will experience that if a Web page contains feeds, the Web address bar will show the orange icon against it. In Safari, you will see a blue RSS logo at the right side of the address bar if the Web page contains feeds. These modern Web browsers receive feeds from their toolbars using Live Bookmarks, Favorites, and so on.

How to subscribe to feeds?

You can subscribe to feeds related to a Web slice (one section of a Web page that is frequently updated and has a feed associated with it) or whole of the Web page. (Note: When you add a Web slice to the favorites bar, you automatically subscribe to its feed.) You just need to click the feed button to subscribe to the related feeds. This is, usually, an orange button with a white dot surrounded by two quarter circular strands. (Sometimes, the feed button is in the form of a blue colored RSS icon—yes, by that name itself.) Clicking it opens the Web page with the content and an option of subscribing wherein you can add the Web page to your Favorites or Bookmarks as well, depending on the browser you use.

When subscribing to a feed, your browser also gives you an option of selecting the interval for checking the updates. So, you can get updates after a specific time interval that you set for your browser.

After subscribing to the feeds on single or multiple Web sites, your browser (built-in feed reader) will check and download all the updates, and you can read those in your own sweet, convenient time.

How much does it cost?

It usually does not cost to subscribe to feeds. Also, most of the feed readers are free however some downloadable desktop and mobile feed readers can cost somewhere around $20-$50.

This article is just the tip of the iceberg called Web syndication. There is so much more to it in terms of current uses and future possibilities for individuals, business owners, and academic circles. I hope that this article helped you au fait about fundamentals of web syndication.