Re: Super-simple feed format (was Re: Withdrawn entries)

[Ken MacLeod <ken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Seairth Jacobs" <seairth@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> This one may have already gone by, but...
> 
> What if the <feed> format were reduced to a list of URIs pointing to
> <entry> resources.  For example:
> 
> 
> <feed>
>     <!-- feed-level elements: title, link, etc. -->
>     <entry uri="http://..."/>
>     <entry uri="..."/>
>     ...
> </feed>

+1.

The advantage I see is that it allows the "bulk" of an entry (or any
other resource record) to exist in one place and be referenced from
many others (feeds, searches, super-aggregators, link lists, ...).

Apart from the "bulk" though, I think it would still be beneficial to
have a few other properties available "up front" rather than "read
later".  <title>, <link>, <atomLink> (which you used @uri for above),
<id>, <modified> and possibly <summary>.

Which, of course, is right back to a "minimal" feed now ;-).
Nonetheless, this is more of an example of "content by reference" than
"all content in the feed".  (Note: this is not in conflict with
offline aggregators.  It allows the aggregator or user to decide
whether to prefetch entries.)

  -- Ken