By Senior Editor – Kris Smith (@croncast)

Why use the .rss extension?

Why not?

I received the comment below in regards to using a .rss extension for RSS feeds.

Serious question – why? What benefit (besides looking cool) do you get from this, when there’s no standard extension for feeds (.xml, .rdf, .atom, etc.) and lots of FeedBurner feeds with no extension at all?

My theory for doing this revolves around user acceptance of RSS and that the message we give as publishers (see; nerds) about RSS being so awesome isn’t a very coherent one. We need a better message and a shiny new package. To me, .rss explains exactly what I am going to get when I use it. Simple.

Packaging feed formats of all types under the extension is a way for users to know exactly what they are getting – syndicated content, a.k.a., “your stuff”. There is no need for all the baffling mumbo jumbo we throw at site visitors about what RSS is or how it works. I contend they don’t care that, “RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format for sharing and distributing Web content” (via CNN). Blah.

Check this Wired explanation for further mumbojumbo:

Based on the XML data format, RSS is the simplest way to add Wired News headlines to your site.

Even the part of the sentence after the comma from Wired is confusing, “add Wired News headlines to your site.” What if I just want to read it and not put it into my site? For most people, would they know how to put those headlines in their site? Do they have sites?

What I am trying to say is that we need to get our act together and stop being nerds about syndication formats. The nice orange RSS icon is ubiquitous and is used to link to .xml, .rdf, .atom and the like without the end user needing to know what they are. Our messaging should be as simple as the RSS icon and I think the .rss extension helps to clarify what is being delivered.

Think about how easy it is to describe what a telephone is and how to use it. Did you for a second even think about the technology that makes your phone work? Nope. Pick it up, dial and talk. Simple.

The orange RSS icon is the syndication telephone and .rss is the keypad.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0