Syndicated content

Thousands of websites now distribute their content through more than just a web browser. These sites make summaries of their new content available in XML files. The most common format for these files is known as "RSS", introduced by Netscape and popularized by Userland Software. The RSS file for a website is referred to as a "feed".

There is no consensus on what RSS stands for -- some call it "Rich Site Summary", while others call it "Really Simple Syndication". No matter how you refer to it, though, it is a powerful, yet simple, way to gather and distribute information.

There are several types of RSS files; for this tutorial, we'll be focusing on the simplest format, known as RSS 2.0. A specification for the RSS 2.0 format can be found here.

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