rss auto-discovery

[John A Grandy]

Could someone explain exactly how RSS auto-discovery works ? Thanks.

 

[John Timney \(MVP\)]

Instead of subscribing to a URL, you subscribe to a site, and meta code in
the head of the sites pages informs your browsers RSS auto-discovery
mechanim that RSS exists to subscribe to. It removes the need to subscribe
directly to an RSS file URL that can change and create an invalid source in
thousands of subscribers shopuld the actual RSS location be changed by the
owner.

Excellent, though very techncial explanation of it all here.
http://philringnalda.com/rfc/draft-ietf-atompub-autodiscovery-01.html

Regards

John Timney (MVP)

 

[John A Grandy]

Hi John, and thanks for the response.

The meta code must be placed in the head section , correct ?

The meta code can contain an RSS url , correct ? Does it have to ?

Does the presence of the meta code cause the browser to examine / make a
request for every link in the page to determine if it's an rss feed ?

 

[John Timney \(MVP\)]

Hi John, and thanks for the response.

The meta code must be placed in the head section , correct ?
Yes

The meta code can contain an RSS url , correct ? Does it have to ?

For auto discovery it should contain a link to an ATOM file (index.atom for
example) or an XML file as per the spec.

Does the presence of the meta code cause the browser to examine / make a
request for every link in the page to determine if it's an rss feed ?

I dont believe so, the meta to the atom or xml file contain the information
so that should be enough for the browser to work with.

Regards

John Timney (MVP)