Re: RSS Feed Best Practices
In reply to kevincox.ca/2022/05/06/rss-feed-best-practices/
This document has been posted to Hacker News this weekend:
I was going to publish something similar to this - it's been on my To-Do list for a while.
But for now, I'd recommend using this, with one big exception: the Styling section. Here is what it is getting wrong:
You can use CSS, but expect that most readers will completely ignore it. Even widespread ones, like Feedly. Those that do support it will only offer a small subset, like text styles. No layout styles (positioning or flex layouts), often not even colors. If you want to try the capabilities of your reader, this is a test feed: https://test-rss.downread.com/styles.rss.xml
Don't just prefer inline CSS, use it! Because any sane RSS reader will filter <style>.
Semantic elements will generally work. And not only those listed, but more expressive ones like <table>, <figure>, and sometimes <aside> as well. Using semantic elements is always preferable to using custom CSS!
He's right about JavaScript and Forms. Don't use them.
Decent readers will support <video> and <audio>. But <iframe>s can work even better, as long as your URL is whitelisted by the reader. YouTube support via iframe is very common in RSS players. Embeds from X, Instagram, and Facebook are also relatively widely supported.