Web Syndication

Leon WuColumbia University

April 10, 2007

Web SyndicationWeb Syndication

Web syndication is a form of syndication in which a section of a website is made available for other websites to use. (check out www.popurls.com, a website that aggregates most popular websites)

Web feed is the most popular kind of web syndication. A web feed is a document (often XML-based) which contains content items with web links to longer versions. The two main web feed formats are RSS and Atom.

Pros and ConsPros and Cons

ProsSimplify the information retrieval process in an information

overloaded worldEfficientAutonomicSecurePrivate

ConsWebsites tend to make the description too shortUsers still need to click the link to retrieve full content

Web FeedWeb Feed RSS File extension: .rss, .xml MIME type: application/rss+xml History and Specification:

First created as RDF Site Summary (v0.9) by Ramanathan V. Guha of Netscape in March 1999 for use on the My Netscape portal.

In September 2002, Dave Winer, a software developer and entrepreneur, released RSS 2.0 spec and emphasized “Really Simple Syndication” as meaning of RSS.

In July 2003, Winer and his company Userland Software assigned ownership of the RSS 2.0 spec to Harvard University's Berkman Center for the Internet & Society.

RSS 2.0 spec was proclaimed to be "frozen", but is still being updated.

Very popular, de facto web feed format.

Atom File extension: .atom, .xml MIME type: application/atom+xml History and Specification:

In 2003, people were unable to make changes directly to RSS 2.0 because it was copyrighted by Harvard University and "frozen" by the official specification document, which stated that "no significant changes can be made and it is intended that future work be done under a different name".

In June 2004, Atompub working group of IETF was set up.

In 2005, Atom 1.0 was published and Atom Syndication Format was issued as a proposed "internet official protocol standard" in IETF RFC 4287.

Not widely supported yet.

RSSRSS Sample RSS 2.0 File Format<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0">

<channel><title>NYT > Technology</title><link>http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/index.html?partner=rssnyt</link><description></description><language>en-us</language><copyright>Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company</copyright><lastBuildDate>Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:05:01 EDT</lastBuildDate><image><title>NYT > Technology</title><url>http://graphics.nytimes.com/images/section/NytSectionHeader.gif</url><link>http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/index.html</link></image>

<item><title>Stockholders Oust Chief at Take-Two</title><link>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/technology/30game.html</link><description>The video game maker faced an insurrection from from shareholders that claimed the jobs of the chief executive and three directors.</description><author>JEREMY W. PETERS</author><guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/technology/30game.html</guid><pubDate>Thu, 29 Mar 2007 23:25:17 EDT</pubDate>

</item>

</channel></rss>

AtomAtom Sample Atom File Format<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">

<title>Example Feed</title><subtitle>A subtitle.</subtitle><link href="http://example.org/"/><updated>2003-12-13T18:30:02Z</updated><author><name>John Doe</name><email>johndoe@example.com</email></author><id>urn:uuid:60a76c80-d399-11d9-b91C-0003939e0af6</id>

<entry><title>Atom-Powered Robots Run Amok</title><link href="http://example.org/2003/12/13/atom03"/><id>urn:uuid:1225c695-cfb8-4ebb-aaaa-80da344efa6a</id><updated>2003-12-13T18:30:02Z</updated><summary>Some text.</summary>

</entry>

</feed>

Feed ReaderFeed Reader

Feed reader: a program to aggregate web feeds on behalf of users and display updated feed content.

Desktop feed reader is normally designed as standalone program or as extension to existing programs like web browsers.

Web-based feed reader runs on web server and does not require software installation on user’s machine. Web server aggregates web feeds and display the updated content to user’s standard web browser.

Desktop Feed Reader - Standalone

Desktop Feed Reader - Standalone

Desktop Feed Reader - Embedded

Desktop Feed Reader - Embedded

Web-based Feed ReaderWeb-based Feed Reader

SummarySummary

Web Syndication, especially in RSS and Atom web feed format, helps web users to aggregate and read information more efficiently.

Desktop and web-based feed readers are being developed enthusiastically. Web users will be benefited from the coming new features.

Thank YouThank You

Leon WuDepartment of Computer ScienceColumbia UniversityTel: (646) 266-3323E-mail: llw2107@columbia.edu