The term RSS 2.0, also known as "Really Simple Syndication", is a type of web feed format used to publish content to weblogs, websites, news headlines, and other types of online media such as pod-casts and mobile devices, such as cell phones. An RSS document usually encompasses content in the form of blog posts, or updates to an associated website pertaining to just about any subject you can possibly think about. The simplicity of the this type of "web feed" helps make it possible for end-users, bloggers and social networks to syndicate (online) with other people by automatically downloading information from other websites into their own web browsers. Furthermore, the benefit of an web-based RSS feed is the real-time accumulation of information from many sources into one place, usually your browser. Once the content is downloaded into your browser, you can read it using software programs called an RSS reader, like Google Reader, or some other known "feed reader", which can be web-based or desktop based. On the other hand, a standard XML document file, which is considered a generic specification for the creation of data formats (including the RSS format) allows the content to be published, then viewed by many different programs. If a certain subscriber is mainly interested in a particular topic, or website containing relevant information, a small orange icon usually appears on the web page allowing the user to subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking on the orange icon link, or by entering the feed's link into the reader. The RSS reader searches for new content regularly (updates) and then downloads any updates that it finds while providing a user interface to read the feeds.
Although the RSS Feed format has been around since March 1999, I really haven't used it much myself until recently. I have always enjoyed surfing on the web, while searching for information by using the search engines, or by following links to other web sites and saving the web page in my favorites folder. This method of bookmarking (favorites) eventually gave rise to a new concept called social bookmarking, and is a method for internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the internet with the help of metadata. Many of these social bookmarking services provide web feeds for their lists of bookmarks, including lists which are organized by tags. As these services became more popular, they added other cool features such as tagging, ratings and comments. The ability to import and export bookmarks from various web browsers, led to developing online groups and many other social networking features. Actually, the social bookmarking website del.icio.us introduced the term "tagging" in 2003, gave rise to the term "social bookmarking" in the same era . Then, other popular social bookmarking websites such as Furl, StumbleUpon, Faves, Digg, Newsvine and Diigo began to rise to the occasion, creating a social bookmarking frenzy that blasted off into the online community. These "social" websites have become so popular on the internet, they have incorporated millions of users into their databases, while creating large online communities at the same time. Yes, web syndication benefits both web sites providing information and the web sites displaying it. How, you might ask? For a web site displaying the content, syndication is an effective way of adding greater depth of information to its pages, making the site more attractive to visitors. For the transmitting site, syndication drives exposure across multiple online platforms, while generating traffic to the main site - making syndication a free and easy form of online advertising.
While social networking has revolutionized the way humans communicate and share information with one another, there are many new features being developed for this purpose. For instance, have you ever heard the term CMS? CMS is actually defined as a Content Management System, which is computer software used to create, edit, manage and/or publish content in an organized fashion. However, a web content management system is considered a WCMS used to publish "web content" to web sites. This allows editors, authors and publishers to submit information, or content, without having to know how to code in HTML, or some other complex programming language. However, a WCMS allows non-technical users to make changes to an existing web site without having to learn HTML, or a markup language. I would highly recommend using a WCMS system to design and implement a web site, especially if you happen to be one of those people who are not interested in learning how to program in HTML, or some other markup language. Web programming has become very complex, and there are so many forms and languages to learn now, it would require at least a year for me to become an efficient web programmer in just one of these languages. I honestly think that I would benefit by using a Web CMS platform to design, build and maintain my own website - thereby sparing myself the time having to learn how to program in a dynamic language such as Cold Fusion or PHP. On the other hand, learning these languages may improve your understanding of the web and how it operates or functions, I'm more interested in learning how to operate and manage the user interfaces required to build the online community website.
In this day and age of the internet, there are many Web Content Management Systems (WCMS) being developed for complex web applications. For instance, a Web CMS managed web site like Joomla, is considered a powerful Open Source Content Management System, and is used to build simple web sites, weblogs, and even complex corporate applications for businesses. Another very popular Open Source CMS platform called Drupal is brainstorming the internet now, and has just won the CNET 2008 Webware 100 Award in the publishing category. Drupal has been used on some very popular web sites like The Onion, a satirical news publication, and MTV's web site in the UK. If you're interested, you can click on this link to Webware.com and read the articles. By the way, the 2008 Webware 100 Awards has recognized the best Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications on the internet today. After receiving more than 5,000 nominations for the awards, CNET then selects 300 finalists, while the web users decide the final cut by voting nearly two (2) million times. So you see, there are many tools and resources available for you to create a virtual online community, and collaborate with your friends. Some of them are simple applications, while others are very complex. I guess it really depends on the individual which path he or she will take to create their online community of friends, which really is the beauty of Web 2.0.
Last but not least, there is one very important aspect I would like to point out regarding web syndication and RSS Feeds . While using the search engines to surf the web and conduct research for my class assignments and online business projects, I found myself caught up in a never-ending cycle, which is commonly referred to as "information overload". I had acquired way too much information to manage and organize in a logical way, which caused me to become disorganized and confused. However, now that we have the ability to syndicate online using RSS feeds, and incorporate the new technology made available to us, I can honestly say that RSS is a surefire way to retrieve the information we are interested in, without having to search long and hard to find it, or having to browse to the web site every time it is updated with new content. Likewise, RSS feeds allow end-users to automatically download scores of information into a single user interface, so that it becomes manageable and organized. I think the new technology will prevail in many ways considering the advent of Web 2.0 and the principles of social networking. Once again, the web syndication idea was brilliant was a brilliant one indeed, and I will always use the RSS feeds until software developers and/or web programmers invent some other technology to replace it. My belief is that the RSS feed will be around for a long time to come, as a tool for software developers and end-users to "syndicate" and share information online while collaborating on the internet.
Although the RSS Feed format has been around since March 1999, I really haven't used it much myself until recently. I have always enjoyed surfing on the web, while searching for information by using the search engines, or by following links to other web sites and saving the web page in my favorites folder. This method of bookmarking (favorites) eventually gave rise to a new concept called social bookmarking, and is a method for internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the internet with the help of metadata. Many of these social bookmarking services provide web feeds for their lists of bookmarks, including lists which are organized by tags. As these services became more popular, they added other cool features such as tagging, ratings and comments. The ability to import and export bookmarks from various web browsers, led to developing online groups and many other social networking features. Actually, the social bookmarking website del.icio.us introduced the term "tagging" in 2003, gave rise to the term "social bookmarking" in the same era . Then, other popular social bookmarking websites such as Furl, StumbleUpon, Faves, Digg, Newsvine and Diigo began to rise to the occasion, creating a social bookmarking frenzy that blasted off into the online community. These "social" websites have become so popular on the internet, they have incorporated millions of users into their databases, while creating large online communities at the same time. Yes, web syndication benefits both web sites providing information and the web sites displaying it. How, you might ask? For a web site displaying the content, syndication is an effective way of adding greater depth of information to its pages, making the site more attractive to visitors. For the transmitting site, syndication drives exposure across multiple online platforms, while generating traffic to the main site - making syndication a free and easy form of online advertising.
While social networking has revolutionized the way humans communicate and share information with one another, there are many new features being developed for this purpose. For instance, have you ever heard the term CMS? CMS is actually defined as a Content Management System, which is computer software used to create, edit, manage and/or publish content in an organized fashion. However, a web content management system is considered a WCMS used to publish "web content" to web sites. This allows editors, authors and publishers to submit information, or content, without having to know how to code in HTML, or some other complex programming language. However, a WCMS allows non-technical users to make changes to an existing web site without having to learn HTML, or a markup language. I would highly recommend using a WCMS system to design and implement a web site, especially if you happen to be one of those people who are not interested in learning how to program in HTML, or some other markup language. Web programming has become very complex, and there are so many forms and languages to learn now, it would require at least a year for me to become an efficient web programmer in just one of these languages. I honestly think that I would benefit by using a Web CMS platform to design, build and maintain my own website - thereby sparing myself the time having to learn how to program in a dynamic language such as Cold Fusion or PHP. On the other hand, learning these languages may improve your understanding of the web and how it operates or functions, I'm more interested in learning how to operate and manage the user interfaces required to build the online community website.
In this day and age of the internet, there are many Web Content Management Systems (WCMS) being developed for complex web applications. For instance, a Web CMS managed web site like Joomla, is considered a powerful Open Source Content Management System, and is used to build simple web sites, weblogs, and even complex corporate applications for businesses. Another very popular Open Source CMS platform called Drupal is brainstorming the internet now, and has just won the CNET 2008 Webware 100 Award in the publishing category. Drupal has been used on some very popular web sites like The Onion, a satirical news publication, and MTV's web site in the UK. If you're interested, you can click on this link to Webware.com and read the articles. By the way, the 2008 Webware 100 Awards has recognized the best Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications on the internet today. After receiving more than 5,000 nominations for the awards, CNET then selects 300 finalists, while the web users decide the final cut by voting nearly two (2) million times. So you see, there are many tools and resources available for you to create a virtual online community, and collaborate with your friends. Some of them are simple applications, while others are very complex. I guess it really depends on the individual which path he or she will take to create their online community of friends, which really is the beauty of Web 2.0.
Last but not least, there is one very important aspect I would like to point out regarding web syndication and RSS Feeds . While using the search engines to surf the web and conduct research for my class assignments and online business projects, I found myself caught up in a never-ending cycle, which is commonly referred to as "information overload". I had acquired way too much information to manage and organize in a logical way, which caused me to become disorganized and confused. However, now that we have the ability to syndicate online using RSS feeds, and incorporate the new technology made available to us, I can honestly say that RSS is a surefire way to retrieve the information we are interested in, without having to search long and hard to find it, or having to browse to the web site every time it is updated with new content. Likewise, RSS feeds allow end-users to automatically download scores of information into a single user interface, so that it becomes manageable and organized. I think the new technology will prevail in many ways considering the advent of Web 2.0 and the principles of social networking. Once again, the web syndication idea was brilliant was a brilliant one indeed, and I will always use the RSS feeds until software developers and/or web programmers invent some other technology to replace it. My belief is that the RSS feed will be around for a long time to come, as a tool for software developers and end-users to "syndicate" and share information online while collaborating on the internet.
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