What is a RSS feed

Source: Dev.to

RSS is a term you hear and see a lot but never really bother to understand what it does. Most people, like me, just briefly read about it on Wikipedia and do not go deep into it. This article is aimed at people who want to learn more about it and see how they can utilize this simple technology.

This article was originally published on the Kode Skills Blog.

What is a RSS feed?

Here is the definition from Wikipedia:

RSS (RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer‑readable format.

In simple terms, an RSS feed is just an XML document formatted according to the RSS standard. It can be served from any website, just like an HTML page or any other resource (images, PDFs, MP4, etc.).

At its core, RSS is a broadcasting mechanism for your website’s content. It’s most commonly used for blogs, but you’ll also find RSS feeds for podcasts, news headlines, product updates, and even torrent trackers. An RSS feed can include metadata such as author, publishing date, short descriptions (excerpts), or even the full article content. This is how you broadcast your latest content to the world, or at least to the people who are subscribed to your RSS feed.

Think of an RSS feed as your own mini transmitter antenna for your website’s content. The RSS logo even symbolizes this idea. 📡

How does it look like?

XML is a markup language, similar to HTML, but with stricter syntax. It’s designed to be both machine‑readable and human‑readable, making it perfect for structured data like RSS feeds.

An example RSS feed (from Wikipedia) looks like this:

<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>RSS Title</title>
    <description>This is an example of an RSS feed</description>
    <link>http://www.example.com/main.html</link>
    <copyright>2020 Example.com All rights reserved</copyright>
    <pubDate>Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
    <lastBuildDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:20:00 +0000</lastBuildDate>
    <ttl>1800</ttl>

    <item>
      <title>Example entry</title>
      <description>Here is some text containing an interesting description.</description>
      <link>http://www.example.com/blog/post/1</link>
      <guid>7bd204c6-1655-4c27-aeee-53f933c5395f</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

That’s a basic RSS feed. Most modern blogging platforms and content management systems (WordPress, Gatsby, static site generators, etc.) can automatically generate RSS feeds for you.

For more technical details, see the Wikipedia article on RSS.

RSS readers

RSS is a web‑feed technology that lets you broadcast your content to anyone who wants to subscribe. With just your RSS feed URL, people can get your latest blog posts, news, or podcast episodes without ever visiting your site directly. This process is called web syndication.

RSS feed readers (also called news aggregators) are websites or apps where you can add the feeds you want to follow. They format the data, present it in a clean UI, and often offer extra features like search, tagging, and offline reading.

The three RSS feed readers I find most popular are:

• Feedly
• Inoreader
• NewsBlur

I personally use Inoreader and find it simple and reliable.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a blogger, developer, or just a content consumer, RSS feeds remain one of the best technologies for aggregating news, blog updates, and web content. While there are more sophisticated solutions out there, for simple use cases like blogs, podcasts, and news, RSS is still the gold standard for content syndication and web feeds. I recommend using RSS alongside social media and newsletters — RSS is perfect for your returning audience who want to stay updated with your latest posts.

If you haven’t already, check out my RSS feed and subscribe if you find my posts useful.