The feed URI scheme was a suggested uniform resource identifier (URI) scheme designed to facilitate subscription to

web feed On the World Wide Web, a web feed (or news feed) is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Content distributors ''syndicate'' a web feed, thereby allowing users to ''subscribe'' a channel to it by adding the fee ...

s; specifically, it was intended that a

news aggregator In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, content aggregator, feed reader, news reader, or simply an aggregator, is client software or a web application that aggregates digital Content (media), content such as online newsp ...

be launched whenever a

hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference providing direct access to Data (computing), data by a user (computing), user's point and click, clicking or touchscreen, tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to ...

to a feed URI was clicked in a

web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

. The scheme was intended to flag a document in a syndication format such as

Atom Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many ...

. The document would be typically served over

HTTP HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, wher ...

History

In 2006 the feed URI scheme was supported by several popular desktop aggregators, including NetNewsWire, FeedDemon,

Safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

, and Flock. no effort seems to be underway to officially register the scheme at

IANA The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Internet P ...

. Critics hold that the purpose of the feed URI scheme is better served by

MIME type In information and communications technology, a media type, content type or MIME type is a two-part identifier for file formats and content formats. Their purpose is comparable to filename extensions and uniform type identifiers, in that they ide ...

s, or that it is not a user-friendly solution for the problem of feed subscription, since a user who has not installed the appropriate software will receive an unhelpful browser error message on clicking a link to a feed URI. The feed URI scheme was suggested in 2003 in and . These expired drafts were not submitted as Internet drafts; the author later contributed to the work on the atom standard.

Syntax

The syntax for a feed URI may be expressed in

Backus–Naur form In computer science, Backus–Naur form (BNF, pronounced ), also known as Backus normal form, is a notation system for defining the Syntax (programming languages), syntax of Programming language, programming languages and other Formal language, for ...

as follows: ::= "feed:" , "feed://"

Specifically, a feed URI may be formed from any absolute URI (such as an absolute

URL A uniform resource locator (URL), colloquially known as an address on the Web, is a reference to a resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identi ...

) by prepending feed, and as a special case, may be formed from any absolute

http 






HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, wher ...

URI by replacing the initial http:// with feed://. The and constructs in the syntax are specified in RFC 3986 also known as STD 66. Here is in essence the part of the original http URI, and is the following absolute path introduced by a slash ""; it can be empty or absent. Therefore, the following are two examples of valid feed URIs: feed:https://example.com/entries.atom feed://example.com/entries.atom

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feed Uri Scheme URI schemes Web syndication Proposals