feed formats

[deronsizemore]

It seems most sites I visit offer RSS format feeds but not Atom. Should I offer both or is simply offering RSS good enough? Sorry I'm kinda new to the whole feed thing.

[Chris]

I think RSS is good enough, most places do both if they do ATOM.

[deronsizemore]

I think RSS is good enough, most places do both if they do ATOM.

Thanks.

So what's really the main difference between the two? I know they are different formats but say with Google Reader for example, would I be able to pull in Atom and RSS feeds or just RSS?

[Chris]

I'm not sure. I don't use Google Reader.

But RSS is the dominant format.

Think of it like credit cards.

Everyone accepts Visa/MC, and some places accept Amex too. But no place accepts just AMEX and not Visa/MC.

Same thing, every reader supports RSS, some also support ATOM. But none support ATOM alone.

So if you want to pick one format to use, pick the dominant one that every reader supports. RSS.

[deronsizemore]

I'm not sure. I don't use Google Reader.

But RSS is the dominant format.

Think of it like credit cards.

Everyone accepts Visa/MC, and some places accept Amex too. But no place accepts just AMEX and not Visa/MC.

Same thing, every reader supports RSS, some also support ATOM. But none support ATOM alone.

So if you want to pick one format to use, pick the dominant one that every reader supports. RSS.

Okay cool. You answered my question (I admit I didn't ask it well :))

Since every reader supports RSS but not every one supports atom I'll go with RSS alone. I didn't know if there were Atom only readers out there to where if I only went with RSS feeds I would be alienating these Atom only reader users. But that should not be an issue.

Thank you.

[Johnny Gulag]

Yes, Google reader supports both formats (RSS and ATOM)