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“Rich Site Summary” is one early expansion of RSS, associated with RSS 0.91. The name changed across versions: RSS 1.0 stands for “RDF Site Summary,” while RSS 2.0 uses “Really Simple Syndication.” Today, RSS is best understood as a format websites use to publish updates for reader software to collect and display.
What is a Rich Site Summary?
RSS is a web content syndication format: a structured way for a website to make updates available to subscribers. The RSS Advisory Board’s RSS 2.0.11 specification describes it as “a Web content syndication format.” That specification, published March 30, 2009, defines RSS 2.0 as an XML dialect. Read the RSS 2.0.11 specification.
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An RSS feed is not an app. The feed is the structured document published by a site; a reader or aggregator fetches feeds and presents their updates in one place.
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There is no single expansion that applies to every version. RSS’s name changed as the format developed:
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| Version or strand | Expansion | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| RSS 0.91 | Rich Site Summary | An early expansion recorded in the W3C Feed Validator documentation. |
| RSS 1.0 | RDF Site Summary | An RDF-based strand; RDF is a framework for representing information about resources. |
| RSS 2.0 | Really Simple Syndication | A separate strand from RSS 1.0; RSS 2.0 is not RDF-based. |
The W3C documentation identifies RSS 0.91 as “Rich Site Summary” and RSS 1.0 as “RDF Site Summary.” The RSS Advisory Board’s specification uses “Really Simple Syndication” for RSS 2.0. See the W3C Feed Validator’s RSS documentation.
How an RSS feed is structured
An RSS 2.0 document has an <rss> root element and one <channel> element. The channel contains information about the feed and its items. An item can represent a story, with a description that summarizes it and a link pointing to the full article. RSS 2.0 files must conform to XML 1.0.
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- Channel: Feed-level metadata and the collection of entries.
- Item: An individual update, often including a title, summary, and link.
- Reader or aggregator: Software that retrieves feeds and organizes their items for subscribers.
How people use RSS
To follow updates, a subscriber adds a site’s feed to a reader or aggregator. The reader checks the feed and displays new entries alongside updates from other subscribed sites. Depending on what a publisher includes, a feed may provide titles, summaries, and links rather than the complete article.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteLe Monde’s guide, dated March 27, 2026, describes its feeds as providing article titles, summaries, and URLs, and names Feedly, Netvibes, Inoreader, and NewsBlur as reader or aggregator options. Those names are examples, not a feature comparison; check each service’s current features and terms. Le Monde also says its feeds are for strictly personal, non-professional, non-collective use unless use is authorized and paid for. Read Le Monde’s RSS feed guidance.
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Why RSS has several names
RSS developed through distinct versions and strands, so its expansion depends on which version is meant. RSS 1.0 is RDF-based; RSS 2.0 is not. RSS 2.0 allows extensions through elements defined in XML namespaces, while RSS 1.0 and RSS 2.0 remain separate approaches rather than sequential names for one unchanged format. Learn about RDF in the W3C RDF Primer.
The RSS Advisory Board’s history lists RSS 2.0.1 as published on July 15, 2003 by Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and authored by Dave Winer. The current RSS 2.0.11 specification, published March 30, 2009, says the 2.0 line is, for practical purposes, frozen at version 2.0.1. Its stated aim is clarification, not adding features; further work should use modules and namespaces or develop new formats under new names. See the RSS Advisory Board’s version history.
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