Are RSS and Atom sufficient for publication and syndication, or should I investigate a third option?

Question

For web feeds we all know of RSS and Atom, but is that it? Isn't there a third option?

If not, why? Are RSS and Atom more than qualified to meet today's demand to distribute information?

Answer 1

There are probably hundreds of other options. If not, we could make some up on the spot...

JSON isn't an uncommon format for syndication. It's more useful for clients that are implemented entirely in browser-side JavaScript, but JSON is simple enough to use in just about anything if necessary. Here's one example of a JSON protocol based on Atom.

As for why RSS and Atom are the most common... RSS was the first to really take off. It was very limited, not very strict, and heavily extended to address the limitations - the result being that writing a good client was far more difficult than it should have been. RSS 2.0 didn't really go far enough to solve these problems, and at least initially it introduced others, and so Atom gained some traction as a comparatively clean, extensible, easy-to-publish, easy-to-process alternative.

With enough sweat and cursing, you can use almost anything to distribute information. Finger and .plan files worked for years...

Answer 2

In addition to feed formats, techniques like pubsubhubbub can help distribute changes faster because it provides a service a way to notify clients of changes. In situations where your partners display your content this can prevent old content being shown.