By Joe Dolittle
In this all-new book review shootout, we put four books to the test. Read on to learn how Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom by Ben Hammersley, Content Syndication with RSS by Ben Hammersley, Beginning RSS and Atom Programming by Danny Ayers and Andrew Watt, and Hacking RSS and Atom by Leslie M. Orchard stand up to our editorial review.
With more and more people reading RSS via Outlook 2007, it seemed useful for us to dig in and learn more about RSS.
Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom
Perhaps the most explosive technological trend over the past few years has been blogging. What's the technology that makes blogging tick? The answer is RSS--a format that allows bloggers to offer XML-based feeds of their content. It's also the same technology that's incorporated into the Web sites of media outlets like OutlookPower so we can offer material (headlines links articles etc.) syndicated by other sites.
As the main technology behind this rapidly growing field of content syndication, RSS is constantly evolving to keep pace with worldwide demand. That's where Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom steps in. It provides bloggers Web developers and programmers with a thorough explanation of syndication in general and the most popular technologies used to develop feeds.
After an introduction that examines Internet content syndication in general (its purpose limitations and traditions) this step-by-step guide tackles various RSS and Atom vocabularies as well as techniques for applying syndication to problems beyond news feeds. Most importantly it gives you a firm handle on how to create your own feeds and consume or combine other feeds.
OutlookPower's evaluation
This was a very helpful book when developing our own RSS feeds and it's very useful as an adjunct to Web resources when generating your own feeds for others to consume.
Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom by Ben Hammersley, published by O'Reilly, is 270 pages and has a retail price of $39.95. We give Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom a rating of 4 out of 5.
RATING: 4 STARSContent Syndication with RSS
Content Syndication with RSS offers webloggers developers and the programmers who support them a thorough explanation of syndication in general and RSS in particular. Written for web developers who want to offer XML-based feeds of their content as well as developers who want to use the content that other people are syndicating, the book explores and explains metadata interpretation different forms of content syndication and the increasing use of web services in this field.
OutlookPower's evaluation
If you can buy only one RSS book, pick up Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom reviewed above. But if you can purchase a few books, this is a welcome addition to any library.
Content Syndication with RSS by Ben Hammersley, published by O'Reilly, is 256 pages and has a retail price of $29.95. We give Content Syndication with RSS a rating of 4 out of 5.
RATING: 4 STARS
