ReedyBear's Blog

What good feed reader (RSS) support looks like on a website

I've been advocating for RSS support, with some success, and I've been thinking about how websites can best support feed readers.

Here's my pitch

Bare Minimum: Provide RSS support, even if it's bad. Start by making one feed for one page. Then add markup to your site so feed readers can auto-detect it. Then add a link to your site's footer. After those basics are done, see below.

  1. Have an 'RSS' or 'Feed' link in the nav menu and/or footer that links to an ARTICLE, not directly to a .rss or .atom URL. This is for the uninitiated, but also communicating what kind of feed support you have. (sample below)
  2. The Home Page should have HTML Markup for feeds, so feed readers can auto-detect them. (Home Pages often should have multiple feeds)
  3. Any page having its own feed should have markup indicating it. (And perhaps should also provide the main feed for the site.)
  4. Anywhere social media accounts are recommended OR email newsletter signups are recommended, feed readers should also be recommended (and that should link to the aforementioned article)
  5. Search Results should have RSS feeds.
  6. Categories & Tags should have RSS feeds.
  7. Feeds should provide at least 50 articles, if that many exist.
  8. Where a page doesn't have its own feed, the markup should indicate the most closely related feeds.
    • Ex: Steam Store pages don't have feeds, but their linked 'Related News' and 'Updates' pages do. The store page should list those feeds. (We'll see if they add it!)
    • Ex: This Political NPR Article doesn't have it's own feed, but it has markup for the 'Politics' feed.
    • Ex: LinuxMint.com does not have a Feed, but blog.LinuxMint.com does. LinuxMint.com should have markup pointing to the feed on the blog. (I asked them to do this, and we will see!)

(aforementioned is a fun word. Say it. SAY IT!)

Sample RSS/Feed Article (NPR.org Example)

Subscribe to NPR.org with a Feed Reader app or follow us on [social media links].

'Share' this page with your Feed Reader app or use 'NPR.org' for the feed URL.

Pro Tip: NPR in your state, the Whitehouse, BlueSky, YouTube, and many others support feeds! Your state politicians might, too.

Available Feeds

We have a few feeds available on our site. Subscribe to any or all of them!

App Recommendations

Notes

#blog #featured