Web feed facts for kids
A web feed is like a special digital document that holds a list of new things, like articles or updates. Think of it as a constantly updated list of content. These feeds are often used by blogs to share their newest posts, but they can come from many other places too, like news websites or podcasts.
Contents
What is a Web Feed?
A web feed is a file made using a computer language called XML. This file contains a series of content items. Each item might be a new blog post, a news headline, or a podcast episode. Web feeds help you keep up with your favorite websites without having to visit them one by one.
Web feeds are designed so that computers can easily read them. This means they aren't just for people to look at. For example, two businesses could use web feeds to share information automatically, without anyone needing to click buttons or copy text. This makes sharing updates very fast and efficient.
What is Syndication?
When a website makes its content available through a web feed, it's called syndication. It's like the website is "publishing" its feed for others to use. This lets other websites or apps automatically get the latest updates from that source.
What is Aggregation?
Aggregation is the opposite process. It's when you gather content from many different web feeds into one place. Imagine having all the latest news from your favorite blogs and news sites appearing on a single web page or in one app. This is also known as "subscribing" to a web feed. You're telling your computer or app to collect updates from those specific feeds.
Common Web Feed Formats
The most common types of web feeds you'll see are called RSS and Atom. These are like different languages that web feeds use, but they both do the same job: sharing updated content. Sometimes, you might also find feeds in a format called RDF.
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