Glossary A–ZLetter R
RSS feed
An RSS feed is a machine-readable file in XML format in which a website provides its latest items with headline, short text, date and often an image.
Programs can fetch the feed regularly and display the items without opening the website itself.
On screens, RSS feeds serve mainly as a source for news lines, tickers or infotainment: current headlines, industry news, items from the organisation's own intranet or event notices. The software reads the feed at set intervals, selects the newest entries and inserts them into a template. A related format with the same purpose is called Atom.
Operators should check whether the provider's terms of use permit public display; the fact that a feed can be accessed freely does not mean its content may be used freely. Third-party feeds deliver items the operator does not see beforehand, including some that do not suit the location. Feeds occasionally change their address or are discontinued, and the area then stays empty. A rule for failures and a limit on text length are therefore part of the setup.