Fileformat

6 ms·

1.
by Fileformat 4mo ago
If you want to style RSS, you can just go straight to JavaScript and avoid all the XSLT mishegas. I made a site with to get people started: https://www.rss.style/ Example RSS feed: https://www.rss.style/chan
2.
by Fileformat 8mo ago
<self promotion> One thing that would be nice is to have the feed be human readable. It is as easy as adding a single line to the XML and setting the content type [1]. Your feeds are also missing a bunch of the headers that readers u
3.
Show HN: RSS.Style – better UX for RSS/Atom links, now using JS instead of XSLT(rss.style)
6 points by Fileformat 8mo ago|0 comments
4.
by Fileformat 9mo ago
RSS.style is my site. I'm currently testing a JavaScript-based workaround that should look just like the current XSLT version. It will not require the XSLT polyfill (which sort-of works, but seems fragile). One bonus is that it will
5.
by Fileformat 9mo ago
There wasn't free hosting in 2003 when I first made it. I have thought about converting it to static, but it would be a complete rewrite, and there is always some other new shiny thing to play with instead. The newer things I'm d
6.
by Fileformat 9mo ago
I get where you are coming from, and have put some thought into it. I built the site over 20 years ago, and while it was fun to make, I wouldn't have maintained it this long if is was costing me every month. I've tried to minimize
7.
by Fileformat 9mo ago
I run a couple similar sites: FileFormat.Info[1] has a page per codepoint. It has been around awhile, so the UI isn't as whizzy, but it has all the data and works w/o JavaScript UnicodeSearch[2] is an updated search UI that uses
8.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
And these aren't niche/advanced features? I'm using Firefox now, and did not know about them. If I'm using them, it is only accidentally or because they are the defaults. But I'm agreeing with you! These features
9.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
I agree with you. But a typical consumer will already be using Chrome, and has no reason to use Firefox. If one of these advanced/niche technologies takes off, suddenly they will have a reason to use Firefox.
10.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
I don't disagree with you, but given (A) how will Firefox ever compete? One possible way is doing things that Google and Chrome don't (can't). Catering to niche audiences (and winning those niches) gives people a reason to us
11.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
Which is why Firefox is steadily losing market share. If Mozilla wanted Firefox to succeed, they would stop playing "copy Chrome" and support all sorts of things that the community wants, like JpegXL, XSLT, RSS/Atom, Gemini (
12.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
I don't want the feed to look amazing. I just don't want to present a wall of XML text to non-technical users who don't know what an RSS feed is!
13.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
That is not the point: I already have the blog's HTML pages. I want the RSS feed to be an RSS feed, not another version of the HTML. The XSLT view of the RSS feed so people (especially newcomers) aren't met with a wall of XML text
14.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
You are absolutely right!!! But... What about people who don't "1) Know what RSS is"??? And what if you could make it friendly for them in 4 minutes? You could by dropping in a XSLT file and adding a single line to the XML
15.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
But you are tech-savvy and know about RSS & feed readers and such like! Think about it from a non-technical user's perspective: they click on a RSS link and get a wall of XML text. What are they going to do? Back button and move
16.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
Making RSS/Atom feeds friendly to new users is key for its adoption, and for the open web. XSLT is the best way to do that. I made a website to promote doing using XSLT for RSS/Atom feeds. Look at the before/after screenshot
17.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
I think that "market demands" is a bit of a misnomer. RSS was (and remains) too tech-y for the mainstream. If browser vendors had made it easy for mainstream users, would there have been as much "market demand"? Between
18.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
Of course built-in support for RSS would be better. But what are the chances of that happening?
19.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
Well, I do agree with you, but... 1. This is pretty difficult for someone who doesn't know about RSS. How would they ever learn what to do with it? 2. Browsers don't do that. There used to be an icon in the URL bar when they det
20.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
Huh? How would a static site generator serve both RSS and the HTML view of the RSS from the same file? To be extra clear: I want to have <a href="feed.xml">My RSS Feed</a> link on my blog so everyone can find my
21.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
I want to use it on an RSS feed: to make it sensible when a new users clicks on an RSS link. I specifically want it to be served as XML so it can still be an RSS feed: I don't even need the HTML to look that great: I have the actually
22.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
Because we want RSS to be friendly to new users. If you display a RSS feed as a wall of XML text, no new user will understand. If you just make it so clicking a RSS link brings up a blurb about RSS is & links on how to use, they might
23.
by Fileformat 10mo ago
On my blog that uses a static site generator?
24.
by Fileformat 11mo ago
1. Everyone who uses a static site generator can add XSLT 2. Everyone who doesn't use a static site generate only has to add the XSLT file and add a single line to the XML. No need to write any code: new code is not a big deal for man
25.
by Fileformat 11mo ago
So... you want newbies to install an extension/plugin before they get a human-readable view of a feed??? That's about as new-user-hostile as I can imagine.
26.
by Fileformat 11mo ago
Another point: it is shocking how many feeds have errors in them. I analyzed the feeds of some of the top contributors on HN, and almost all had something wrong with them. Even RSS wizards would benefit from looking at a human-readable ver
27.
by Fileformat 11mo ago
You are probably right, but it is depressing how techies don't see the big picture & don't want to provide an on-ramp to the RSS/Atom world for newcomers.
28.
by Fileformat 11mo ago
That's my point: you know all about RSS & feeds and don't need it. But what about someone who hasn't been using them since the beginning? I think every page with an RSS feed should have a link to the feed in the html bo
29.
by Fileformat 11mo ago
Gotta love the reference to the <link> header element. There used to be an icon in the browser URL bar when a site had a feed, but they nuked that too.
30.
by Fileformat 11mo ago
One extremely important XSLT use-case is for RSS/Atom feeds. Right now, clicking on a link to feed brings up a wall of XML (or worse, a download link). If the feed has an XSLT stylesheet, it can be presented in a way that a newcomer ca

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