Would you like to collect information using RSS and an RSS reader?

Happy New Year everyone!
I'm Iosa from the System Development Department and it's getting harder to ride my bike in the winter!

As the title says, do you know what RSS is?
Even people who don't know about RSS have probably seen the icon below. (It's handwritten...)

This time, I would like to talk about RSS and RSS readers, which make it easier to collect information!

What is RSS?

What is RSS?

RSS is a mechanism for distributing updates and the latest information from websites, blogs, etc.

Specifically, it refers to the data format in XML

By writing it in a certain way, you can tell that this tag contains this information.

An XML file written using RSS is called
RSS) feed By the way, our blog also has an RSS feed (Please refer to it!)

includes information such as
the title , content summary , and URL of the website or article Therefore, RSS is a perfect system for collecting information!

After this, we'll dig deeper into RSS, but if you're not interested, feel free to skip to the RSS reader part!

RSS version

There are
two versions of RSS currently in use: 1.0 and 2.0 This does not mean that 2.0 was created as a successor to 1.0; the two are not compatible .
As a result of the conflict between the two based on the *0.9 series due to differences in the way of thinking and the data formats adopted, the specifications were divided into two with slightly different specifications.
*If you compare RSS1.0 to RSS0.9 and RSS2.0 to RSS0.9x
, it would be like a certain Chinese chain where dumplings are popular.

About Atom

Atom , like RSS, is an XML data format for distributing updates and latest information.
Atom inherits the idea of ​​RSS and has similar descriptions, but it is a different data format from RSS and was developed as an alternative to RSS.

As a background, each version of RSS is in conflict, and it was developed to break free from that shackles and create a data format that is simpler and easier to understand than RSS.

In the end, although Atom itself became popular, it did not completely replace RSS as a data format, and three formats now exist: RSS1.0, RSS2.0, and Atom .

RSS reader

As you may have noticed if you looked at our blog's (RSS) feed earlier, XML itself is a markup language for passing data between systems, so it is difficult for humans to see.

However, all of these problems can be solved by using an RSS reader!

What is an RSS reader?

An RSS reader is software that uses (RSS) feeds to obtain the latest and updated information distributed by sites and displays it in a format that is easy for humans to read.

There are two typical RSS readers:
・Feedly
・Inoreader

Google used to offer Google Reader, but the service ended in 2013. (I'm sure many people took this opportunity to stop using RSS readers...)

To use it, check the URL of the (RSS) feed of the website you want to get information from, and register that URL to get the latest information.

Below is a screen shot of Feedly actually used.

Benefits of RSS readers

There are three advantages to using an RSS reader.

・You can centrally manage the latest and updated information from various sites.

When you gather information, you probably don't just do it from one site, but from multiple sites.
For example, there are IT information sharing services such as Zenn and Qiita, and blog sites that publish information about specific IT technologies.

By being able to centrally manage the latest and updated information on those sites, you can save time and do it more efficiently

・You can obtain only the information you need

Recently, it is possible to collect information through SNS etc., but you can also obtain noise (information that you do not need).
RSS readers allow you to register only with sites that provide the information you need, so you can obtain only the information you need .

- No need to worry about differences in RSS versions

As I mentioned in the section about RSS, there are multiple versions of RSS.
Each version has different specifications, so if you want to obtain information using an RSS feed, you must be aware of the differences between versions.
However, RSS readers can obtain information regardless of the differences between versions, as well as the newly created data format, Atom!

Recommended usage/how to use

・Let's separate folders for each technology!

The two RSS readers introduced above allow you to categorize each RSS feed using folders.
For example, by collecting blogs that only publish PHP information into one folder, you can gather information without noise!

・All information, no need to read the article!

In fact, by registering multiple sites, it will take time to read all the information and articles, making it almost impossible.
Also, if you decide to read all the information and articles, the hurdle will rise and gathering information will become a chore.

Therefore, we recommend that you limit yourself to skimming the information and article titles and only read the information and articles that interest you!
In this way, you can incorporate time to collect information even in a 5-minute gap! !

lastly

What did you think?

We would be happy if you could learn more about what RSS/RSS readers are and the benefits of using each to collect information!
There are some things you won't know until you actually try it, so if you're interested, give it a try! !