Apple's Upcoming Safari RSS Could Help Popularize The Format || The Mac Observer

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Apple's Upcoming Safari RSS Could Help Popularize The Format

by , 5:30 PM EDT, June 29th, 2004

Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, is a format that has been offered for years in places like weblogs (or "blogs") and news sites, but much of the public has little to no knowledge of the technology. According to an article at eWeek, Apple Computer's upcoming Safari RSS seeks to change all of that. The browser will display an icon if a site features an RSS feed, and allows the user to seamlessly subscribe to the feed. The article also looks at the state of RSS in other browsers such as Opera, Firefox, and even Internet Explorer. From eWeek:

The browser makers are all taking various approaches to incorporating feeds into the browser. Opera, of Oslo, Norway, has added RSS support within its mail application, handling feeds like e-mail messages. The browser also can detect pages with feeds, and users can click a site's XML icon to automatically subscribe.

Mozilla, based in Mountain View, Calif., plans to include its news feed support with the beta release of Firefox 1.0 in about six weeks, Goodger said. The new feature will let users save and organize feeds within the browser's bookmarks, which will display an updated list of feed items. Firefox also will display an icon or prompt to indicate that a Web page has an available feed, Goodger said.

"This builds RSS right into browser and access to it right where you discover it," Goodger said.

Web browsers moving into the RSS aggregation arena raises the possibility of them replacing standalone news readers, an issue that was gaining the attention of a range of Webloggers on Monday. Syndication technology has found much of its earliest converts among bloggers.

One of the major readers for the Mac, NetNewsWire, appears to be ready for Safari's entry in the market. Developer Brent Simmons wrote in his blog Monday that development will continue on NetNewsWire and noted that Safari doesn't' appear to be as fully featured as a full reader.

You can read the full article at eWeek's web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

We agree with Matt Hicks' view on this issue. Just as with USB, and to a lesser extent Bluetooth, Apple's support for RSS in Safari could really open up acceptance of this technology by non-geeks. To be sure, RSS is gaining popularity on its own, but we believe that Apple's implementation is going to get far more people to notice far faster than would have otherwise happened. Of course, the folks at NetNewsWire have a long head start on Apple in this market, and we can hope that some competition will be good for all concerned.

eWeek

Observer Comments

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Close Name:rspress Posts: 27 Joined: 12 Nov 2002
Tue Jun 29, 2004 11:37 pm Subject: It already is popular.

RSS is growing by leaps and bounds each day and will soon be the de facto way to get your news from the web.

Many applications already exist for getting and presenting the received data but I think Apple will apply its magic touch to it to take it to the next level. The integration into the web browser and the fact the browser will sniff out the rss feeds is where Apples version shines. The only bad part of Apples version is the wait for tiger and Safari 2. That means the mozilla release will be on my computer as soon as it is released. Mozilla will also have real user feedback to improve theirs.

I think Apple should add the RSS support before the release of Tiger in an effort to squash the bugs that are sure to be there.

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Close Name:Alphax Posts: 3182 Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Tue Jun 29, 2004 11:42 pm Subject: RSS

I've seen links related to RSS for a while, but I'll admit that I still don't really know what they are. I expect I'll figure it out, sooner or later.

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Close Name:David Nelson - TMO Staff Posts: 5368 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Wed Jun 30, 2004 12:18 am Subject:

I've never really used RSS because it meant yet another app to run and keep in my Dock. But this preview of Safari's RSS capabilities looks really appealing. My main browsers are Firefox and Mozilla on my various systems, but come next year this may be enough to make me interested in using Safari a bit more.

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Close Name:Scott Reynolds Posts: 56 Joined: 19 Jun 2001
Wed Jun 30, 2004 2:04 am Subject: Re: RSS

There are quite a few commercial RSS aggregators that are pretty good, but really, you don't need to spend money. NetNewsWire Lite is an excellent introductory app if you're trying to figure out what RSS is all about.

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Close Name:geoduck Posts: 1739 Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Wed Jun 30, 2004 12:50 pm Subject: MacObserver RSS?

So I downloaded NetNewsWire Lite and it looks really cool. I discovered that it has MacCentral, and MacosXrumors and a bunch of other places such as BBC that I like. This looks like it could be very useful.

So, is MacObserver going to be doing an RSS feed?

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Close Name:David Nelson - TMO Staff Posts: 5368 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Wed Jun 30, 2004 1:31 pm Subject: Re: MacObserver RSS?

Quote
geoduck wrote:
So, is MacObserver going to be doing an RSS feed?

Actually TMO already has an RSS feed linked in the navigation bar on every page.

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Close Name:geoduck Posts: 1739 Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Wed Jun 30, 2004 2:12 pm Subject:

Oh so that's what that RSS next to Contact and Search at the top of the page means.

Last edited by geoduck on Wed Jun 30, 2004 2:53 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Close Name:looper Posts: 16 Joined: 21 Jan 2002
Wed Jun 30, 2004 2:34 pm Subject: Syndication?

Hello--

I have an infrequently-updated (once every few months, typically) educational
website on alternative motor vehicle fuels (www.altfuels.org). In the opinion
of experienced RSS users and creators here, is there any point in creating and
attempting to publish an RSS file for this kind of a non-weblog, non-news
site? Or would my infrequent updates just get lost in the noise? I've looked
at some RSS files, and it looks like creating and updating one with BBEdit
would be trivial; however, it appears that it would take some effort to try to
get listed with www.syndic8.com or other aggregators, if they'd even accept
my feed (i.e., would they reject it because it doesn't update on the timescale
they're used to seeing for weblogs and news sites?). Is it worth it?

Many thanks--
--Mark Looper
www.altfuels.org

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View Name:Guest
Tue Jul 13, 2004 8:28 pm Subject: My apple password i

Close Name:Johannes Posts: 389 Joined: 22 Mar 2002
Wed Jul 14, 2004 7:32 am Subject:

I stoped useing Safari already, its not what I want from a Web-Browser, it crashes quiet often, especially when there are some scripts for IE, and it just cant handle pur flash most of the times.

I use Opera now, I always loved the all in one apps.

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Close Name:David Nelson - TMO Staff Posts: 5368 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Wed Jul 14, 2004 9:56 am Subject: Re: Syndication?

Quote
looper wrote:
I have an infrequently-updated (once every few months, typically) educational website on alternative motor vehicle fuels (www.altfuels.org). In the opinion of experienced RSS users and creators here, is there any point in creating and attempting to publish an RSS file for this kind of a non-weblog, non-news site? Or would my infrequent updates just get lost in the noise?

I'm neither an experienced RSS user or creator, but I personally doubt it would be worth doing. To me, RSS seems most useful as a way to check for new stuff at sites or blogs that are frequently updated -- sort of a way to get up-to-the-minute info without visiting them all individually. If you only update every few months I don't really see much point in offering RSS, personally.

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