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XML and RSS Feed Content Distribution and Syndication
What is XML Technology? The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a type of software language designed to facilitate the sharing of information between two points on the internet. It is used to categorise and define elements of data within documents by the webmaster and is therefore very flexible at defining the composition of data. XML is a mark-up language (similar to html), which was designed to facilitate data sharing (as well as data display in a browser). Whereas HTML can be embedded with scripts (such as a simple JavaScript popup calendar), XML does not in itself process anything; XML is simply a flexible data transport standard (plain text organised in a consistent way between 'tags'). XML allows the author to define his own tags and his own document structure. Both XML and HTML can be used to compliment each other, in the sense a webpage can magically display data from elsewhere on the internet within the webpage itself. This can be a great principle to master because it allows webmasters to present an unlimited array of content without having to write content in the first place. XML was seized on the newswires who could syndicate content anywhere. Today, savvy webmasters are creating XML content feeds (such as a 'how to' guides and articles) and offering it up to any other webmaster for inclusion on their website. By including links back to the authors website (in the form of an inbound link) from within the xml file, link popularity and rankings improve. Likewise the target human audience is more likely to click though from an interesting article to its original author.
What Does XML Look Like? XML 'tags' can be created at will by the webmaster to suit their data movement requirements. They can be anything. These tags wrap around the data which is presented in a self-describing and simple syntax (as shown in the example below). The first line in the example is the XML declaration. The next line describes the root element of the document (like saying: "this is a notation"). The next lines describe child elements of the root (to, from, heading, and body):- <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <note> <to>Simon</to> <from>Fred</from> <heading>Reminder</heading> <body>Don't forget to call today!</body> </note> Similarly, by displaying content form other websites on your website perceived value can be created. Portals are a classic example of shared content syndication being used to create useful information glued together within one website. RSS/XML based 'content feeds' are a quick and simple way to enhance the content of your site for your site visitors. By providing fresh up to date content your site will score better with search engines looking for up to date and relevant textual content. It also saves a huge amount of time when somebody else has already written the content for you and allowed you to add the XML feed to your site in seconds!
How do I Create My own XML Contents Feeds (for Other Sites)? There are many commercial software packages such as Feedforall available to help novice users create their own xml content feeds. These are easy to use and easy to learn. | |||||
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