Not your parents syndication medium.
RSS vs. ATOM: Is the RSS tail wagging the syndication dog?
While many have debated the relative merits of RSS 2.0 versus ATOM 1.0, at the end of the day if you are in the web content syndication game you have to support both formats.
After implementing the RSS and ATOM specifications in .NET, I have gotten to know the formats a little better and have come away with the following:
a. ATOM is much simpler to implement than RSS.
b. ATOM is probably the superior format in terms of flexibility.
c. RSS has a lot more extensions, that allow RSS to break free of its limitations.
d. In my rough estimation, there are a lot more RSS feeds out there than ATOM feeds.
For the most part, RSS does the job unless you need to represent something outside of the specification such as having multiple enclosures on a channel item. Even then you can get around these kind of limitations by leveraging the various extensions available.
I have gotten the feeling there are not as many extensions to ATOM because it was designed with enough flexibility that you don't need to extend the specification as much. In comparison RSS is a somewhat luke-warm specification that when encrusted with the variety of extensions available ends up being able to compete with ATOM.
So if you are willing to accept the argument that ATOM > RSS, why are the major browsers and blogging software supporting RSS? One reason may be that RSS is older and more established, and so you can't just expect everyone to convert to the ATOM specification. Even with the sites that offer both RSS and ATOM feeds, I don't expect to see RSS go away because in many peoples minds Web Content syndication == RSS. You are far more likely to see web content syndication equated with RSS. While ATOM is probably technically superior it is still the unloved step-child of web content syndication.
We can't expect the syndication formats of today to be the standards in the future, but most change is driven by the marketplace. What are going to be the market pressures and needs that shape the web content syndication needs of the future? Am I right in claiming that currently RSS is the tail that wags the dog?
After implementing the RSS and ATOM specifications in .NET, I have gotten to know the formats a little better and have come away with the following:
a. ATOM is much simpler to implement than RSS.
b. ATOM is probably the superior format in terms of flexibility.
c. RSS has a lot more extensions, that allow RSS to break free of its limitations.
d. In my rough estimation, there are a lot more RSS feeds out there than ATOM feeds.
For the most part, RSS does the job unless you need to represent something outside of the specification such as having multiple enclosures on a channel item. Even then you can get around these kind of limitations by leveraging the various extensions available.
I have gotten the feeling there are not as many extensions to ATOM because it was designed with enough flexibility that you don't need to extend the specification as much. In comparison RSS is a somewhat luke-warm specification that when encrusted with the variety of extensions available ends up being able to compete with ATOM.
So if you are willing to accept the argument that ATOM > RSS, why are the major browsers and blogging software supporting RSS? One reason may be that RSS is older and more established, and so you can't just expect everyone to convert to the ATOM specification. Even with the sites that offer both RSS and ATOM feeds, I don't expect to see RSS go away because in many peoples minds Web Content syndication == RSS. You are far more likely to see web content syndication equated with RSS. While ATOM is probably technically superior it is still the unloved step-child of web content syndication.
We can't expect the syndication formats of today to be the standards in the future, but most change is driven by the marketplace. What are going to be the market pressures and needs that shape the web content syndication needs of the future? Am I right in claiming that currently RSS is the tail that wags the dog?
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© 2009 Created by Brian William Kuhn on Ning. Create Your Own Social Network
