RSS 1.0 Released by International Working Group
XML Application Lets Web Sites Syndicate Metadata and Content

Sebastopol, CA -- An international group of developers has released RDF Site Summary (RSS) 1.0, an XML-based application enabling Web sites to describe and syndicate site content and metadata.

RSS lets Web content providers keep their readers current with rapidly-changing news, discussion, and other events of interest on their Web sites and sites of related interest. Because RSS is multipurpose, lightweight, and extensible, RSS developers expect it to be widely adopted by other Web developers. This is the first update to RSS since Netscape released version 0.91 in July, 1999.

RSS 1.0's most important accomplishment is extensibility via modules based on XML-Namespace technology. This lets content providers plug functionality into a basic syndication platform, saving time and effort, and ensuring compatibility.

The RSS 1.0 Working Group is the core development team, with 12 members in three countries. The Working Group is chaired by Rael Dornfest, researcher and developer at the O'Reilly Network. Dornfest noted that use of development and implementation of RSS 1.0 has been strong for several months. "RSS 1.0-compliant tools, libraries, articles, and feeds already have been springing up and evolving," Dornfest said.

Dornfest is also the creator of Meerkat, a Web-based RSS reader designed to keep developers on top of rapidly-changing technology news.

"RSS 1.0 is great news for anyone involved in managing the flow of information, either on the Internet or within the enterprise," explained Edd Dumbill, Managing Editor of XML.com. "Developers can take advantage of a large existing tool base, and at the same time use the new specification's extensibility to accommodate their particular requirements. This is a big step forward for interoperability of data on the Web."

Examples of RSS-Based Services

Meerkat: a technical content syndicator drawing news and analysis from more than 200 channels.

Moreover.com: "scrapes", cleans and categorizes Web pages, repacking the data into outgoing syndicated feeds.

My Netscape Network: the original RSS site, now a general-purpose, customizable portal.

My.Userland: aggregator of content focused on the Weblog community.

XMLtree: registrar for XML (including RSS) content.

For More Information

• RSS 1.0 Specification Proposal
• RSS-DEV Working Group
• O'Reilly Network's RSS DevCenter offers feature articles, tools, audio roundtables with RSS developers, and more.
• RSS Info, News and information on the RSS format
• Writing RSS 1.0 by Rael Dornfest

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