Sample RSS feed
An RSS feed begins with a section that describes the feed -- the author's name, the name of the feed, the feed description, etc. Here is a portion of the section of the RSS feed for our class blog:
<![CDATA[
<title type="text">CIS471: Network-based applications</title>
<subtitle type="html">This blog supplements CIS471, a course on the technology, applications and implications of computer networks/</subtitle>
<author>
<name>Larry</name>
<email>noreply@blogger.com</email>
</author>
]]>
That section is followed <entries> for each item in the feed. In the case of our class blog, there would be entries for each current post.
For example, I posted a note on Dabbleboard, "A cool colaborative drawing tool." You see the RSS feed describing that entry below:
<![CDATA[
<entry gd:etag="W/"D0AASH09fCp7ImA9WxRXFkk."">
<id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18164409.post-387002633365658815</id>
<published>2008-10-21T14:18:00.000-07:00</published>
<updated>2008-10-21T20:22:29.364-07:00</updated>
<app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2008-10-21T20:22:29.364-07:00</app:edited>
<category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="draw" />
<category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="applications" />
<title>A cool, collaborative drawing tool</title>
<content type="html">Most of you use or will be using Visio to create diagrams. I just came across <a href="http://www.dabbleboard.com">Dabbleboard</a>, a vector drawing service you might find useful.<br /><br />It is not as capable and flexible as Visio, but it is very easy to use, extensible -- you can reuse shapes and shape libraries you and others create -- and, of course, it is a networked application.<br /><br />Several people can work on the same drawing at the same time, and the drawing can be made public or shared within a limited group when it is published. You can create libraries based on your drawings, and there are also public libraries and tool kits.<br /><br />If it sounds interesting, check this <a href="http://www.dabbleboard.com/main/video">how-to screencast</a>.<br /><br />Dabbleboard has several features that facilitate and encourage collaborative work. What features would you like to see them add? What do you think the community of Dabbleboard users will add? When would you use Dabbleboard instead of Visio? When would you use Visio?</content>
<link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://cis471.blogspot.com/feeds/387002633365658815/comments/default" title="Post Comments" />
<link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18164409&postID=387002633365658815" title="1 Comments" />
<link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18164409/posts/default/387002633365658815?v=2" />
<link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18164409/posts/default/387002633365658815?v=2" />
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Cis471/~3/428138845/cool-collaborative-drawing-tool.html" title="A cool, collaborative drawing tool" />
<author>
<name>Larry</name>
<email>noreply@blogger.com</email>
</author>
<thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">1</thr:total>
<feedburner:awareness>http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=Cis471&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcis471.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F10%2Fcool-collaborative-drawing-tool.html</feedburner:awareness>
<feedburner:origLink>http://cis471.blogspot.com/2008/10/cool-collaborative-drawing-tool.html</feedburner:origLink>
</entry>
]]>
The <entry> information would be repeated for every post in the feed.
This looks someting like an HTML document with tags, attributes and values. However, the deal with meaning or semantics, not appearance of the page. This is an example of an XML document. For RSS to work, everyone has to accept a set of common tags and attributes for RSS feeds.