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RSS: From Grassroots to Mass Appeal

RSS: From Grassroots to Mass Appeal: "RSS: Grassroots Support Leads to Mass Appeal
By Stephen Downes

Rich Site Summary, or RSS, is an XML format originally designed to list the changing contents of a news Website. Originally released by Netscape in 1997, it was used to allow readers to customize their personal Netscape Webpage and to create content indices inside the Netscape browser. Abandoned by Netscape, the format lived on through a grassroots content syndication movement and has evolved through several versions. Today, RSS is widely used by news Websites and Weblog authors.

Simplicity leads to popularity

The major attraction of RSS for Web developers is its simplicity. (In fact, RSS is often known by an alternative name, Really Simple Syndication). An RSS file can be created from scratch using nothing more than a simple text editor and sample file as a template, posted to a Web server as though it were a Webpage, and retrieved and read by a wide variety of applications. Additionally, and this probably accounts for its recent burst of popularity, numerous content management tools now create RSS files automatically and applications called headline readers enable users to view the contents."

posted by Kevin @ 12:29 PM