Finally, you will also want to try creating RSS files automatically. Once you have created a simple RSS file, you will want to validate it. You can do this at Netscape s site, listed below in the Resources section. Post the RSS file on a publicly accessible area of your Web site, go to Netscape s site, submit your URL, and the validator will test your file for compatibility. Once you have a valid RSS file available on your Web site, you can syndicate your content.
Aggregators take content from a variety of sites and publish it in feeds.
While your site s information could be mixed in with content from a variety of other suppliers, aggregators can help you dramatically extend the reach of your distribution. You can also use RSS files for private distribution on intranets or extranets. Their simplicity makes RSS files a good way to publish information to a variety of systems. Once you start working with RSS files, you will want to parse the file back into discrete units of information. The parser reads a stream of XML text, identifies the opening and closing tags, finds the text enclosed in each tag, and creates handles to work with the parsed information.