Keith's Weblog: Comments on "Updating to RSS 2.0"

by Mark

Tue, 17 Jun 2003 03:51:00 +0000

Every page validate? All the time? Are you sure? Go with xhtml:body. Otherwise, go with content:encoded.

Save [description] for plain-text excerpts.

by Keith

Tue, 17 Jun 2003 03:55:16 +0000

Yep, every page validates, every time. I write my weblog posts in StructuredText, and the HTML output the parser generates is always valid XHTML.

Do all aggregators read xhtml:body now? I don't currently write excerpts for my posts, so I wouldn't have anything to put in description... and I'd hate to duplicate the entire post in xhtml:body and <description>.

by Keith

Tue, 17 Jun 2003 04:02:03 +0000

I suppose maybe I'll dump the first N characters of the StructuredText source as the description, and dump the whole thing in xhtml:body. Depending on how SharpReader deals with it...

by Keith

Tue, 17 Jun 2003 04:16:19 +0000

Oh, screw this. If you have a   in xhtml:body the XML parser complains it's an undefined entity. I hate XML. Going back to content:encoded, and then maybe description if I'm not happy... grr.

by Ole Eichhorn

Tue, 17 Jun 2003 04:18:41 +0000

Use xhtml if you want, but it isn't necessary. Please see http://w-uh.com/rss.xml for a plain vanilla feed with titles, links, publication dates and GUIDs. Even an icon which some aggregators like SharpReader display.

Good luck!

Ole

by Keith

Tue, 17 Jun 2003 04:33:09 +0000

Thanks Ole! I read the rss2 spec, and it turns out you're still allowed to put entity encoded HTML in there, so, like you, that's what I'm doing. And since there's a pubDate element in 2.0 I don't need dc:date, so my RSS is namespace free, which is how I like it

by M. Bean

Wed, 18 Jun 2003 13:40:00 +0000

Speaking of RSS... check this little app out:
http://www.graemef.com/weblogx/CategoryView.aspx/PopHeadlines

I'll have to try it out once I get home, unable to test it from here @ work, but I like the idea of getting RSS in my email client... at least, until I try it out and see if I will continue to like it

by M. Bean

Wed, 18 Jun 2003 13:42:28 +0000

Looks like there is another implementation out there that does the same thing... posting here, on your site, for reference.

http://www.fettig.net/projects/hep/

I really should get my own site up, eh?

by Graeme Foster

Wed, 18 Jun 2003 22:14:18 +0000

Give me a chance to improve the parser before you make your mind up

by Keith

Wed, 18 Jun 2003 22:46:16 +0000

You know, this is a great idea. I had tried that RSS to NNTP gateway program and had to dump it because A. I didn't like any newsreader program I tried with it, and B. it didn't parse broken feeds correctly (which was a LOT of them).

However, the RSS to e-mail thing is a great idea. The only requirement I'd have for this is that I'd need some kind of script to automatically set up folders for every feed as well as set up rules in my e-mail program to filter incoming items. There's NO way I'd set up folders manually AND set up corresponding rules manually that I'd then have to maintain, etc. etc. So I'd have to have some kind of tool do this for me, that would create them in the first place from something like an OPML file, monitor feeds and change folder names when the feed name changes, etc.

If I get a chance later I'll take a look at how hard this would be to do programmatically, at least for Outlook Express.

by Graeme Foster

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 08:56:28 +0000

I think Hep at least has a UI of some sort which might do what you want. It is rather fiddly to set up PopHeadlines, but I've found it worth the effort. After all, how often do you add a new feed? More often than me I guess
Oh, and if you're using Outlook then NewsGator does this reasonably well.

I don't think NNTP gateways are as useful, mostly because there aren't really any NNTP clients that are as polished as a modern email client.

by Keith

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 21:50:12 +0000

After all, how often do you add a new feed? More often than me I guess.

Well, it's not quite that I do it so often. It's just that I've accumulated a lot of feeds, so there's no way I'm going through the three steps of: 1. Adding the feed to PopHeadlines; 2. Adding a folder to the feed for Outlook Express; 3. Adding a rule in OE to filter items for that feed into the correct folder, for each of the, I dunno, 100 feeds I have now. Plus, do it in reverse when I delete a feed Plus, change it manually when the name of a feed changes, etc. And, if I'm filtering on the URL of the location of the RSS feed I'd have to change the filter manually when that changes too.

I mean, it might be as simple as a Windows Scripting Host script that "pushes buttons" in the application for you. I dunno. Unfortunately, I have no time to play right now Boy do I have no time.

by Keith

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 21:55:54 +0000

But yes, I really do like the idea in general. I gave NewsGator a try, but didn't like it - possibly mostly because I don't like Outlook

The best combination seems to be a local server-based app that you write once, combined with some local script specific to an e-mail program that can manipulate folders, set up rules, etc., so long as it's not brittle or a pain in the butt to set up.

by Keith

Tue, 24 Jun 2003 04:41:03 +0000

Check this out! I'm a moron, because I didn't even think of having the thing be IMAP based instead of POP based. That would have completely addressed my folder issue. I wonder if IMAP folders can be renamed with the client recognizing it.