The RSS Feed for Morris

If, like me, you have a number of favourite Morris Web sites that you visit frequently for information then you need to find out more about RSS. You may also have noticed some small icons popping up with an item labeled 'feed', these are labeled RSS, XML, Atom and sometimes 'Java'.

Introduction

RSS {Really Simple Syndication} is a method of providing specific information from any Web site - kind of half way between e-mail and a Web page - and not intrusive like those nasty popup windows. Unlike the wretched and depressing News provided by papers, radio and TV this can be any form of news that you are interested in and which appears on the Web. As you might expect sites using RSS include Yahoo!, the BBC, and Google, however any Morris Side or Folk Club with a Web site can use RSS to inform about gigs and news. On MMD and the Ring's site I intend to use it to pass on web site updates and any other current Morris and Folk news that comes my way.

How RSS Works

The Web site has to provide an information file about it's latest stuff, this is held in a file which (typically) might be called index.rss and is coded in a particular format, XML {eXtended Markup Language}, the big brother of HTML. Hence the little icon XML is present here. The RSS code is relatively simple to write, but as with all XML it has a strict syntax, for example it is case sensitive. The impression that it has to be written automatically, and with information taken from a database, is not correct. Whilst it is convenient for large sites to generate their RSS files automatically the code is easily handwritten. The situation is a little like writing web sites ten years ago.

How you get RSS Feeds

If you open a Web site with Firefox, then if the site has an RSS feed, you should see a little icon, I have an RSS feed, down in the right hand corner of the browser window. On my Mac I have an application called AmphetaDesk which sits next to my Firefox browser icon on the Dock. If I open AmphetaDesk a browser window opens, mine says "Below are the newest items from your 9 channels". The channels have the information being fed (hence feeds) from the Web sites that I want to watch. So, low and behold I have a message from BP Explorer, a yacht on the Global Challenge with a friend Olly from Sheffield on board. The feed tells me Olly is off Brazil, and his yacht is fourth (30-10-04).

Useful Links

You could just Google RSS, but these are my findings