RSS explained in simple terms spells out as Really Simple Syndication.  It is a format which is used to deliver web content that changes regularly.  It is used by weblogs, online publishers and news sites to syndicate their content for readers.

It is a language of XML and must conform to XML specification as published by w3c.  It may contain elements that define definite parts of the items syndicated.  Special software called news aggregators are required to read such a file and download the relevant content from the Internet and keep it updated.  Here is an attempt to get RSS explained in greater detail.

Brief History

Originating right before Y2K, it is a sum total of two different formats.  The first Netscape RSS version was RSS 0.90.  This was formed under the RSS 1.* branch.  RSS 0.91 was formed under the RSS 2.* branch.  All the later versions are backward-compatible and they have extension mechanisms to track innovations.

RSS Explained Through News feed

RSS helps people who use the web quite often.  You can stay informed by getting latest content from different websites without having to visit each individual website.  This not only helps you save time but it also protects your privacy as you don’t have to join excessive email newsletters.  RSS news feeds are available across different sectors such as arts, politics, sports, science, shopping, society, health, games, etc.  All you need to do is click on the news aggregator to get the latest update.

RSS Explained Through Technology

News Aggregator software or Feed Reader allows you to get hold of RSS feeds from different sites so you can read and use them.  There are different RSS readers that are currently available for various platforms.  Some of these include FeedReader, Amphetadesk and NewsGator.  Web based feed readers include Google Reader, Bloglines and My Yahoo.

Subscribing to a feed

Once you have set up your Feed Reader, all you have to do is find websites that syndicate content.  Then you can add the RSS feed to your list.  When a feed is available, it is usually displayed as XML, RDF or RSS.  Usually, news feeds are automatically updated during a specific interval of time.  You can subscribe to any number of feeds and get updates from them all.  The recent established trend is to have sites that 'aggregate' a list of feeds.  They have widgets and software that will collect different and varied RSS feeds of similar content so the user does not have to search for different feeds from different places.  These are in essence like an index of news feeds.

RSS Explained Through Structure

RSS contains elements enclosed in between “<” and “>” like <link>, <author>, <title> and so on.  Content within these elements are 'read' by the aggregator software and given to the user in a human readable format.