The Really Simple Syndication(RSS) format is used to exchange news items between sites. Without RSS, users will have to check your site daily for new updates. This may be too time-consuming for many users. With an RSS feed (RSS is often called a News feed or RSS feed) they can check your site faster using an RSS aggregator (a site or program that gathers and sorts out RSS feeds).
Many online journals or blogs utilise RSS feed format to let their special users or interest know the latest details like new products and description, upcoming events change of site and thousand other important details. The RSS format is somewhat standardized by http://feedvalidator.org/docs/rss2.html
The RSS File is defined by and <rss> root element, which contains a <channel> element. This <channel> element holds one or more <item> elements or just <title>,<link> and <description> tags decribing entirely an item , or the title, link and description of an item. The item element itself again contain <title>,<link> and <description> tags for individual items.
A basic RSS file will look like the following code snippet:
RSS Example www.javascriptref.comFeed Description Coders' Place www.coderewind.comArticles for the Coders
The following table shows <channel> reference:
| Element | Description |
| <category> | Optional. Defines one or more categories for the feed |
| <cloud> | Optional. Register processes to be notified immediately of updates of the feed |
| <copyright> | Optional. Notifies about copyrighted material |
| <description> | Required. Describes the channel |
| <docs> | Optional. Specifies an URL to the documentation of the format used in the feed |
| <generator> | Optional. Specifies the program used to generate the feed |
| <image> | Optional. Allows an image to be displayed when aggregators present a feed |
| <language> | Optional. Specifies the language the feed is written in |
| <lastBuildDate> | Optional. Defines the last-modified date of the content of the feed |
| <link> | Required. Defines the hyperlink to the channel |
| <managingEditor> | Optional. Defines the e-mail address to the editor of the content of the feed |
| <pubDate> | Optional. Defines the last publication date for the content of the feed |
| <rating> | Optional. The PICS rating of the feed |
| <skipDays> | Optional. Specifies the days where aggregators should skip updating the feed |
| <skipHours> | Optional. Specifies the hours where aggregators should skip updating the feed |
| <textInput> | Optional. Specifies a text input field that should be displayed with the feed |
| <title> | Required. Defines the title of the channel |
| <ttl> | Optional. Specifies the number of minutes the feed can stay cached before refreshing |
| <webMaster> | Optional. Defines the e-mail address to the webmaster of the feed |
The following table shows the RSS <item> Reference
| Element | Description |
| <author> | Optional. Specifies the e-mail address to the author of the item |
| <category> | Optional. Defines one or more categories the item belongs to |
| <comments> | Optional. Allows an item to link to comments about that item |
| <description> | Required. Describes the item |
| <enclosure> | Optional. Allows a media file to be included with the item |
| <guid> | Optional. Defines a unique identifier for the item |
| <link> | Required. Defines the hyperlink to the item |
| <pubDate> | Optional. Defines the last-publication date for the item |
| <source> | Optional. Specifies a third-party source for the item |
| <title> | Required. Defines the title of the item |