RE: Re: BBC News RSS

We've gone for OPML for the moment because of the existing support for
it (even if it is patchy).

Our OPML file currently resides at http://news.bbc.co.uk/rss/feeds.opml.
WARNING: it is currently 2.5Mb. We aim to change this in the near future
so that this file is a directory of OPML files and so bring this down to
a more manageable size.

We hope to support an OCS version in addition to the OPML in future.

Joel

-----Original Message-----
From: Danny Ayers [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: 26 February 2004 00:22
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [syndication] Re: BBC News RSS


Whoops, nearly missed this...

> Danny Ayers wrote:
> > Personally I'd advise using a different format altogether. Any.
>
> So is Ideagraph going to not import OPML, making it useless to anyone 
> who has ever used an aggregator before? And will it not export OPML, 
> making it the sort of dead end that anyone with a bit of sense and 
> experience with aggregators will avoid?

So anything that doesn't use OPML isn't any use to people that have used
aggregators before? Dave has achieved his format lock in? Heh, *not*.
Mostly because existing tools don't support OPML consistently - my last
experience was export from RSS Bandit, import to Bottom Feeder - result:
zilch. Sense and experience tells me that anything's better than OPML,
hence my advice.

I have played with OPML import, using SAX, XSLT and crude regexp-style
parsing, and that is why I wouldn't recommend it. I'll probably support
a narrow subset, with a minimal bit of detection code to record that the
imported data was OPML, and hence could include unreadable stuff. If I
have time then similarly I'll probably put together a wrapper on export
to cover a subset of OPML. The data might be useful. Maybe. But don't
expect me to be happy about it or wave the flag. I'm not going to jump
through hoops to support endless variations on an unspecified theme.

> Battle cries in the Syndication Wars are fine when you know that 
> everyone listening knows that that's all they are, but in the other 
> world, beyond the battlefield, virtually every aggregator around will 
> import and export OPML,
> in one flavor or another, to one extent or another. OCS is much
prettier,
> and virtually unsupported.

The cries aren't battle cries, just cries of anguish following time
spent with OPML. It hurts to have to support this mess, when there are
clear alternatives.

There may not be many newsreader/aggregators that support OCS. But every
tool that uses RDF has support for it. If we allow the agenda to be
narrowed to what's easy using formats like OPML then we're in a serious
rut.

In any case I don't really think the fact that all today's aggregators
support OPML carries as much weight as you imply - they're pretty much
all stuck at the same level of sophistication, due in large part to the
fact that it's not straightforward to extend such formats. Have we
really reached the limit of what can be done? Glorified electronic
newpapers? Gimmee a break.

> Valuable contribution to the syndication community: search out as many

> examples as you can find, detail the differences, put it on a wiki.

What's the point? Any attributes are permitted, so it's a task that's
potentially open ended. I'd rather spend my time developing the
horseless carriage than following carthorses with a bucket. *

> One more straw tilting me toward unsubscribing from my very last 
> syndication-related email list: well, you know ;)

I hadn't checked this list for a week or so, so I guess I must be
feeling the same way. Maybe I'll unsubscribe for a year or two, come
back when the evolutionary fork has reached extinction.

Cheers,
Danny.

* unfair on horses, sorry equine dudes



 
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