It's been almost 20 years since RSS 2.0 was done. #
In the meantime, I kept using RSS in my software. And when I wanted to add something to the format, I did what the spec asked of us -- I used a namespace. I just used one and put everything I added into it. It's called the source namespace. #
Most of the items in the source namespace can be grouped into three categories:#
Nice things to have, conveniences. Connect a feed to a social network, view the build date in the local time of the feed. Provide the full URL of an item if the <link> value is a shortened URL.#
Experiments that didn't go anywhere (at least not yet). A way of linking an individual feed to its archive so you can create a history of your feeds. The idea of a Likes server. #
Providing the source code for an item, acknowledging that people sometimes use tools to generate HTML code in the <description> element of an item. #
The most important group is the last one, and it's what the namespace is named after. #
For example, suppose you're editing a post in a Markdown editor. You'd include the encoded HTML in the <description> element of the item, and the Markdown source that generated the item in the <source:markdown> element. That way if the feed reader understood Markdown it could use that to generate the text it displays. #
There is also a <source:outline> element that does the same thing if you used an outliner to write the post. In that case the structure maps directly onto OPML. #
Caveat -- there may be other elements that I haven't documented. When discovered they will be documented. #
Last update: Sunday May 29, 2022; 11:36 PM EDT.
You know those obnoxious sites that pop up dialogs when they think you're about to leave, asking you to subscribe to their email newsletter? Well that won't do for Scripting News readers who are a discerning lot, very loyal, but that wouldn't last long if I did rude stuff like that. So here I am at the bottom of the page quietly encouraging you to sign up for the nightly email. It's got everything from the previous day on Scripting, plus the contents of the linkblog and who knows what else we'll get in there. People really love it. I wish I had done it sooner. And every email has an unsub link so if you want to get out, you can, easily -- no questions asked, and no follow-ups. Go ahead and do it, you won't be sorry! :-)