Atom and RSS

A feed is an easy way to promote a website, or to enhance it with feeds from other sites. The two major formats are RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0. You can display a feed on a page of your website with a single PHP function.

How to promote a website

RSS feeds allow to promote your website over the Web. Thanks to the tools provided here you can build easily a feed but you have to know first how to use it and what to do with it.

Which feed format to choose?

If you want to create an RSS feed, you wonder what is the best format to use among RSS 2.0, 1.0 or Atom.

Applications of RSS

Besides the promotion of the articles of a website, RSS feed has numerous use. 15 examples are provided and you can invent your own use.

RSS Reader

A PHP function to display an RSS feed in a webpage. Multiple channels handled. Display an RSS 2.0 or 1.0 feed.
Several demonstrations.

Ara, RSS editor

Build an RSS feed from the pages of your website or blog. Allows to select the pages and update an existing file.

RSS PHP API

A PHP class with methods to build an RSS 2.0 feed.

Atom Reader

Display an Atom feed. Demos and download.

How to build a universal feed reader

A Single PHP function for displaying any feed in any format: Atom 1.0, RSS-RDF 1.0, RSS 2.0 and older versions: 0.91, 0.92, 0.94. Demos and download.

Building a feed from a database

The example is based on the Wordpress' database.

Resources and specifications of formats

There is not standard by the W3C for the RSS format, but three popular specifications by various groups or organizations. However the W3C works on the semantic Web and the RSS specs are based on the XML and RDF standards from the W3C.