4 ms·

I was stumped by the "really different faces of the same thing" claim as well in relation to HTML and RSS. While RSS is not dead, and probably wont be for a lo

by donohoe 16y ago

I was stumped by the "really different faces of the same thing" claim as well in relation to HTML and RSS. While RSS is not dead, and probably wont be for a long long time, I also think it needs to be viewed in perspective. "normal" people (not you and me) don't know what RSS is and for the most-part don't use it (or don't know that they are using it sometimes). Dave has some good insights from time to time, but I get the impression that he is stretching his credits and claims far beyond reality. You can only wave the "I co-invented RSS way back" flag for so long.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
codingthewheel 16y ago
I think what he meant by that was that webpages and RSS feeds ultimately boil down to the same thing: transmitting markup across the wire. That's really all an RSS feed usually is; HTML markup CDATA'd or escaped inside a simple XML doc (often incorrectly). Whether you request a webpage through a browser or an RSS feed through a reader, you're essentially doing the same thing. And I think RSS/ATOM have failed to go mainstream for three reasons: - The RSS and Atom specs are a mess. A mess. And have been for years. Most RSS/ATOM feeds are technically incorrect in some way, usually around the escaping of markup and/or the presence of feed metadata. - There have been few, if any, truly inspired RSS readers (Google Reader doesn't count). - Browser makers have never made RSS a first-class user experience. When asked to, the response is "nobody uses RSS". But nobody uses RSS because there's not a compelling RSS facility in any major browser, including Firefox.
davewiner 16y ago
Where do you see me waving any flags? I think you should be equally protective of open formats and protocols. Stand up for them. That's all I'm doing donahoe.
Kevin_Marks 16y ago
If you want an HTML equivalent for RSS, there's hAtom: http://microformats.org/wiki/hatom http://microformats.org/wiki/hatom

by donohoe 16y ago

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

codingthewheel 16y ago

I think what he meant by that was that webpages and RSS feeds ultimately boil down to the same thing: transmitting markup across the wire. That's really all an RSS feed usually is; HTML markup CDATA'd or escaped inside a simple XML doc (often incorrectly). Whether you request a webpage through a browser or an RSS feed through a reader, you're essentially doing the same thing. And I think RSS/ATOM have failed to go mainstream for three reasons: - The RSS and Atom specs are a mess. A mess. And have been for years. Most RSS/ATOM feeds are technically incorrect in some way, usually around the escaping of markup and/or the presence of feed metadata. - There have been few, if any, truly inspired RSS readers (Google Reader doesn't count). - Browser makers have never made RSS a first-class user experience. When asked to, the response is "nobody uses RSS". But nobody uses RSS because there's not a compelling RSS facility in any major browser, including Firefox.

davewiner 16y ago

Where do you see me waving any flags? I think you should be equally protective of open formats and protocols. Stand up for them. That's all I'm doing donahoe.

Kevin_Marks 16y ago

If you want an HTML equivalent for RSS, there's hAtom: http://microformats.org/wiki/hatom http://microformats.org/wiki/hatom