Blogs, RSS and XML Explained

You have probably heard the terms blog, RSS, XML and feeds. Learn what these terms mean below.

Blogs are essentially online journals where information is presented in reverse-chronological order (most recent entries at the top, oldest at the bottom). See our own FTPplanet.com Blog for an example. Blogs allow content to be easily syndicated using RSS and XML.

RSS and XML work hand-in-hand. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary (it all depends on who you ask). What is more important than what the letters stand for is that RSS allows you to have content delivered or used by you in different ways:

• You can subscribe to an RSS feed and read content through a feed (or news) aggregator, an online service (such as My Yahoo!), through an e-mail client plug-in, or many other ways.
   
  Some popular aggregators include: SharpReader, FeedReader, AmphetaDesk, NewsGator
   
• You can use RSS to include content on your blog or Web site.
   
• You can create a custom Web page using RSS feeds. The previously mentioned My Yahoo! is a great example of this.

XML is short for eXtensible Markup Language. It is similar to HTML in that it allows data to be formatted with tags. The syndicated feeds (RSS, explained above) that blogs and other Web sites present are often written in the XML language.

Most sites will use an orange XML graphic -- -- to note that a feed is available. Simply copy the associated link and paste it into an aggregator, Web page, blog, etc.

Next Steps ... Blog Software and Services Explained - Learn about some of the most popular ways to create blogs. FTPplanet.com Discussion Forums - Post FTP related questions or a link to your blog in the discussion forums.