Writing Online

The Time Had Come, So Marvin Went

Jon Udell brings up one of my favorite topics: avoiding link rot.

The bad URL was, in any case, apparently obsolete. ... It strikes me that with namespace support for RSS, an element might be added that would enable aggregators to redirect in such cases.

One aggregator, Aggie, pays attention to HTTP permanent redirects and updates the subscription list. Google and Syndic8 also know what to do with a permanent redirect. But in some cases, the server administrators don't allow the user to modify the configuration.

So an element to handle changes of address was briefly discussed, and Kevin Burton's mod_subscription mentions it in passing. The specification really just needs some simple language describing the element and requiring an action based on the element. Something along these lines

The channel element contains metadata describing the channel itself, including a title, brief description, and URL link to the described resource (the channel provider's home page, for instance). The {resource} URL of the channel element's rdf:about attribute must be unique with respect to any other rdf:about attributes in the RSS document and is a URI which identifies the channel. Most commonly, this is either the URL of the homepage being described or a URL where the RSS file can be found. This is the URI of the feed itself. If it changes, user agents SHOULD update references to the channel.

Whether the appropriate place for the language is the main document or a module is a matter for discussion. What is necessary is more specificity in the specification.

11:39:34 AM # Google It!
categories: Writing Online