HTML, XHTML, & CSS, Sixth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide

25. Syndication and Podcasting

When you make changes to your site, it’s nice to have people notice. Although mass emailings might do the trick, they also might alienate your visitors. Instead, you can publish a summary of recent changes or feed of your site, in a format that can be read by specialized programs called aggregators. If your visitors decide to subscribe to your feed, the aggregator automatically notifies them of any updates to your site. The visitors can then either view the change right in the aggregator window, or jump back to your site to read it in situ. This process is called syndication. One of its strong points is that it gives control to your visitors—they choose whether or not to subscribe—as it gives them access to your ...