The functionality of an RSS feed is very simple.
An RSS or Atom feed is an XML file – plain text that, like an HTML file, is assigned various tags. The file contains structured content in the form of text, but does not contain layout, navigation, or other additional information. For visual display and user engagement, any design widget is often used to link to the file.
A feed reader can use markup to recognize the time when the feed was updated or who authored the article, or it can have graphics, audio files, or links integrated into it.
A feed reader, also called a “feed aggregator,” is used not only to review subscriptions, but also to store information about which articles have already been read and are marked for further reading, and can also store old unread articles.
Importing RSS – what is it?
Importing is the process of placing an RSS link into a reader, browser, or a page on a user’s website.
At the first stage, the website plugin makes the content available via RSS in XML format. The RSS content is available in a separate frame via a special link for all site visitors. As soon as a visitor sees the RSS link, he can also copy it and use it for further pasting.
After the link is imported, the RSS feed is either called directly in the browser, implemented in an RSS reader, or displayed as a frame on the user’s website.
Once an RSS feed is integrated in one of these three ways, the software behind it updates the feed regularly. In other words, the software regularly queries the RSS provider’s server to see if there are any updates. If so, new content will immediately appear at the top of the feed.