01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page iii Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds FOR DUMmIES‰ by Ellen Finkelstein Foreword by Chris Pirillo 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page ii 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page i Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds FOR DUMmIES‰ 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page ii 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page iii Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds FOR DUMmIES‰ by Ellen Finkelstein Foreword by Chris Pirillo 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page iv Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Stock photos from Hemera Technologies, Inc. Used under license. 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THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FUR- THER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFOR- MATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: 2005923220 ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-8848-8 ISBN-10: 0-7645-8848-6 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1O/SR/QT/QV/IN 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page v About the Author Ellen Finkelstein has written numerous best-selling computer books on AutoCAD, PowerPoint, Flash, and other topics. She writes articles on AutoCAD and PowerPoint for Web sites, ezines, and magazines. As an Adjunct Instructor of Management at Maharishi University of Management, she has taught courses on Human Resources and eBusiness. Her Web site, www.ellen finkelstein.com, offers tips and downloads for AutoCAD and PowerPoint and that’s where you’ll find her RSS feeds. She writes at home so she can take the casserole out of the oven on time. 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page vi 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page vii Dedication To MMY, for teaching that communication is the process of bringing out what’s inside me; and that inside and outside are really the same. 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page viii 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page ix Author’s Acknowledgments This book was quite a new venture for me in terms of the topic and I was assisted by many people who are as energized about RSS as I am. But first, I’d like to thank Melody Layne, my Acquisitions Editor, who fought for this book for months, because RSS wasn’t quite big enough on the radar yet. Her sup- port made this book possible. While I was writing this book I received able advice and help from my project editors, Becky Huehls at the beginning and then Nancy Stevenson. Nancy’s developmental editing helped make the book clearer and more logical. She also kept track of numerous production details that brought this book through to completion. John Edwards (no, not the Senator) was my copy editor. Not only did he do a great job of correcting my grammar and punctuation, but he made some excellent suggestions that added to the book. I came across Jeff Barr, the owner of the well-known RSS site, Syndic8.com, when I was preparing my proposal. He was cheerfully helpful in answering my questions and I was grateful when he agreed to do the technical editing. Jeff is an RSS expert and has been involved with RSS for years, before most of us even knew it existed. His comments and corrections have immeasurably improved this book. He even wrote me little stories of RSS lore, some of which were very funny. Thanks, Jeff! Chris Pirillo, the owner of the well-known Lockergnome Web site kindly wrote an excellent foreword for the book. Chris is passionate about RSS and main- tains one of the best RSS feeds on the subject. Chris’ excitement about RSS shines through as he makes the case for RSS, so be sure to read the foreword. Nita Travis was my researcher. Because I was writing on such a tight dead- line, she was there to find me numerous Web resources related to RSS, includ- ing RSS and blogging histories, great articles, and more. How this engineer, turned mother of three, turned researcher (and that’s not all she does) does it all, I don’t know, but I’m very thankful. And she does it all very well. I became interested in RSS through the evangelism of two people: Amy Gahran (blog.contentious.com) and Robin Good (www.masternewmedia.com). Their infectious enthusiasm shone through and made me decide that RSS would make a great topic for a For Dummies book. Along the way, many other people supported me, mostly by answering my questions. Some of these people, in no special order, were Dale Janssen (NewsletterByRSS), Rok Hrastnik (author of the ebook Unleash the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS ), Renee Blodgett (Blodgett Communications), Rodney Rumford (The Info Guru, LLC), Dan Connolly (W3C), Campbell Mander (NewzAlert Composer), and Anne Hennegar (TimeAtlas.com). I’m sure there are more, so please excuse me if I omitted your name. The point is that there’s a great community out there, willing to support people who want to learn about RSS. Thanks to all of you. Finally, I want to thank my family who put up with my constant writing. They are always supportive. 01_588486 ffirs.qxd 3/4/05 11:24 AM Page x Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services Media Development Project Coordinator: Maridee Ennis Project Editor: Nancy Stevenson Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Andrea Dahl, Acquisitions Editor: Melody Layne Stephanie D. Jumper Copy Editor: John Edwards Proofreaders: Leeann Harney, Jessica Kramer, Technical Editor: Jeff Barr Joe Niesen, Carl William Pierce, TECHBOOKS Composition Services Editorial Manager: Carol Sheehan Indexer: TECHBOOKS Composition Services Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth Cartoons: Rich Tennant, www.the5thwave.com Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 02_588486 ftoc.qxd 3/4/05 11:25 AM Page xi Contents at a Glance Foreword....................................................................xix Introduction ................................................................1 Part I: Controlling the Information Explosion ..................7 Chapter 1: RSS in the Communication Revolution ........................................................9 Chapter 2: Choosing an RSS