[Web4lib] Wanted: RSS and XML Utilities

[Jonathan Rochkind]

>> I have appreciated the recent posts about RSS readers. I am looking for
tools and utilities for marking up RSS xml documents, creating XSL
stylesheets, and inserting iTunes tags into RSS feeds to make podcasts.

For information about creating RSS for podcasts specifically, this article
may be useful:

http://academictech.doit.wisc.edu/resources/products/podcasts.htm

It includes a short list of software that can be used for making a podcast
RSS file (as well as a discussion of other aspects of creating a podcast
including the actual audio editing, that you may not be interested in).

A Podcast (as you likely already know) is an RSS file that uses the
enclosure tag to include mp3 files in items. There are iTunes-specific
tags used by the iTunes website and software---these are not in fact
required to have a podcast, they just give you added functionality with
iTunes. If you're looking for documentation/tutorials on the RSS format,
the enclosure tag, or the iTunes-specific tags, we can probably find that
for you.

I ended up writing my RSS by hand when I needed to do this. I was not
happy with that solution--it's not that it's so dificult, as that there's
too much opportunity for typos in my opinion. Next time I have to do this,
I think I'll investigate XMLSpy.

--Jonathan