Difference Between RSS and Atom
One question I’ve never really answered for myself or my readers is what the difference between RSS and Atom is. In anticipation of this question coming up in a future presentation, here are some resources about the feeds. I’m a little surprised I couldn’t find information on the difference between Atom and RSS on their respective sites–at least no information that I as a non-developer, non-computer geek could interpret into something I understand–but considering all of the politics involved, perhaps it’s not so surprising that they aren’t talking about each other.
- The Guardian describes Atom as developers going off on their own after not being satisfied with the direction RSS went. Atom is created by consensus; RSS is not. (Perhaps that’s one thing the RSS advisory board can address.) RSS has nine versions. Atom is still rather new, so it doesn’t have as many versions. Some people claim RSS is less flexible than Atom when it comes to adapting to change and new technologies.
- The Atom Project, a wiki about Atom (It seems wiki spam corrupts a page that might explain some of the history and differences.) Addendum 8/11/05: The Atom wiki compares the two.
- Mighty Atom: Really Similar Syndication? gives a good overview and numerous links to more detailed information about the differences, like this blog post on whether to use link or guid elements for permalinks in a feed. It features a “tag-by-tag, play-by-play breakdown.”
- A light definition, perhaps suitable for those not interested in the heavy technical stuff
- Chris Pirillo: Will the average user care anyway?
- What’s next with feeds?
