RSS

RSS

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and for Rich Site Summary. It is a Web content syndication format. It has many applications although the most usual one is the notification of changes and updates in Internet sites once the user is subscribed. The content showed in the reader or in the news aggregators is called RSS feed.

Although in 1997 it appeared a similar version, it was in 1999 when Netscape created RSS (version 0.90). Different versions were created through the next years and finally UserLand Software transferred ownership of RSS 2.0 specification to the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School in 2003.

Its advantages are that it makes publicity easier, it summarizes information from several sites into one document and it notifies updates from favourite websites, such as forums, allowing you to visit them from there. All this documents are in XML format. RSS has improved and become increasingly known during the past years and this widespread will surely continue.