When I read Farai Gandiya’s Working with Web Feeds: It’s More Than RSS, this month, I discovered there was a lot I didn’t know about RSS (Really Simple Syndication).
Who knew there was an RSS Club?
Not me!
Working with Web Feeds: It’s More Than RSS
Gandiya did an excellent job explaining the difference between the three common types of syndicated web feeds: Atom, RSS, and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).
In addition, Gandiya explained what makes a good feed and the importance of knowing your feed readers and how they render content.
What surprised me from the article were two things:
- RSS predicted to make a comeback in 2022
- Recommendation to provide full content, not summaries in the feed
Why?
I’ve used RSS for years; I never stopped using it.
While I know some people gave up on RSS feeds when the popular Google Reader closed in 2013, others continued to use them, finding feed readers like Feedly (which I use).
Personally, I’ll be glad to learn more people add an RSS feed to their site. Or decide to use a feed reader.
About the RSS Feed for Lireo Designs
As for showing the full content in an RSS feed, that’s something I haven’t done on this site.
It’s been an excerpt (or summary) for years.
However, that doesn’t mean I can’t change.
My concern is what Gandiya explains could cause issues with displaying full content: images and other rich content (embedded videos, tweets, etc.) that don’t display well in feed readers.
Grandiya provides tips on how to resolve their issues, which put my mind at ease. It will take more work and research on my part to implement a full display for my feed.
But I still wondered, what did people prefer for the feeds?
Results of Twitter Poll about RSS Display
So I conducted a three-day poll on Twitter, asking people what their feed preferences were.
The results surprised me!
Majority of people preferred the full content in the feed reader.
For people using RSS, do you prefer the feed to display
— Deborah Edwards-Oñoro (@redcrew) December 17, 2021
Which made me wonder two things:
- Are people aware the formatting and multimedia included in posts doesn’t display in a feed reader, unless the author has taken extra steps to display them?
- How many authors take the extra steps (and time) to improve their feed to display images, embedded videos, etc.?
My Experience with RSS Feeds
I was curious, so I reviewed more than 50 of the 100+ feeds I follow for user experience, web development, WordPress, birding, and blogging.
What I discovered was a mix of feeds, some with:
- First paragraphs
- Summaries
- Excerpts
- Entire text (but no multimedia)
- Very few with entire text and multimedia
I only found one, Baymard Institute, that notified readers the article may not display well in a feed reader. Baymard recommends people visit their site to get the full experience.
Wrapping Up
While my RSS feed reader display poll was informal and had less than 40 people participating, it provided helpful information to me.
Poll results show people prefer the full content in their feed reader.
Based on reviewing feeds I follow, and the wide range of content displayed, I wonder if people are aware they may not be getting the full experience of the article.
What about you? If you use an RSS feed reader, what do you prefer?
Do you have an RSS feed on your site? If yes, what does your feed display? Have you taken steps to improve your RSS feed?
Share your thoughts and replies in the comments.
